What follows is a break from my normal routine of pontificating about some subject that has caught my eye or perhaps caused me greater irritation than usual at the websites of the Guardian or the BBC.

Almost three years ago I wrote Whatever the Weather and pointed out that in the UK, all weather, whether normal or abnormal, whether hot or cold, dry or wet, calm or windy, seems to be capable of generating a story in the mainstream media or at the Met Office blaming it on climate change. I have been in the habit of adding comments below the line whenever news stories have arisen in the media that illustrate that point.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover the need for somewhere to post stories about anomalous weather that don’t fit the climate crisis narrative or which might even be considered to undermine it.

Today, Cliscep received a request for “a running thread for random bits of climate/weather news and info like this which run counter to the stream of media propaganda. As well as current news items, it would be a good place to post about the tidbits we stumble across in books, documentaries, etc.” I’m happy to oblige, and this is that location. However, I’ve gone with my own title, rather than the one suggested, which was “Climate incidentally”.

To get the ball rolling, we’ll start with the story which prompted the request: “Historic Cold Pushed U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaking Fleet to the Limit in 2026”. That’s certainly not a title which you’re likely to see in the mainstream media, nor is the detail contained in the story itself:

Ice conditions in the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic waterways were categorized as “significantly above normal” compared to recent decades. Operations wrapped up on Thursday. [That’s Thursday 7th May 2026]. The USCG estimated that more than 50 million tons of ice were broken this winter, which was characterized by “historic cold temperatures and icing conditions.”

“Peak ice coverage in the Chesapeake Bay reached over 35 percent, which is the most since 2014 and greatly exceeds the seasonal average of around 10 percent,” said Lt. Cdr. Blake Bonifas, Atlantic Area Public Affairs Officer…

…Total ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached a seven-year high of 58 percent on February 9, exceeding the long-term average of 52 percent.

Rapid ice accumulation was also a major problem this winter.

Within two weeks, the USCG saw ice coverage expand from 5 percent on January 14 to a whopping 51 percent by January 31. Lake Erie reached 95 percent ice coverage.

“This year’s ice season lasted longer than usual because of severe cold,” said Bonifas….

Please feel free to add similar stories of interest in comments below the line.

35 Comments

  1. 8º here in darkest Kent as I write, log burner doing great service, not quite the ice issue in the USA I admit.

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  2. Obviously, I am a bit obsessive about reporting on weather stations!! There is, however, an ultimate goal for my work which is to reconstruct a GB (none of Ireland) historic temperature record for the last 140 years from only proven good quality and reliable sites. It is a mammoth project and it is 460 reports so far, but a clear picture is definitely emerging and it is not the same as the Met Office version by a long way. One particular aspect of note is just how dire the Met Office has become over the last 40+ years since the start of site automation and change of thermometers from Liquid in Glass traditional ones to modern electronic Platinum Resistance ones. Probably the best one to highlight this issue and how scientifically absurd the Met Office has become is this one. (Sorry not self publicising just trying to add perspective on where and when things started going wrong aka easily manipulated.

    Stevenson Screens – ” The aesthetic and moral codes of the suburban domestic garden.” An explanatory report.

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  3. lordelate, that’s a bit brutal. I’m not sure it’s that cold here in Cumbria, though the central heating is kicking in. I have turned the thermostat down, and by this time of year, that would normally see the central heating staying off, but not so far this year.

    Ray Sanders, you’re very welcome to post links here. The more publicity the better regarding the Met Office’s declining standards.

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  4. In a context where any warming event is reported with doomsday ferver, weather stations are an important resource for checking vast claims against facts on the ground, ie. actual observations in local conditions. A recent example was the alarms raised over an unusual heat wave in US Southwest last March. Many headlines included claims that 2026 likely to be the Hottest year ever!

    If you’re like me, your response is: That’s not the way it’s going down where I live. Fortunately there is a website that allows anyone to check their personal experience with the weather station data nearby. weatherspark.com provides data summaries for you to judge what’s going on in weather history where you live. In my case a modern weather station is a few miles away March 2026 Weather History at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. The story about March 2026 is evident below in charts and graphs from this site. There’s a map that allows you to find your locale.

    March 2026 the Hottest Ever? Not So Fast!

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  5. Thank you Ron. The more links to thorough de-bunking of climate scare stories, the better. Part of that de-bunking certainly involves analysis of local weather stations and dodgy data.

    Like you, I often hear or read stories about hottest ever, sunniest ever, droughts etc, and think “not where I live”.

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  6. Pingback: If All You See… » Pirate's Cove

  7. here in southeastern michigan the weather since thanksgiving has been cooler than usual except for the month of march

    this is very disappointing after getting warmer winters since the 1970s

    the past two winters were unusually warm with very little snow

    this winter was colder and had much more snow than the past two winters combined

    nobody here complains about global warming — we love global warming — and i imagine that most people in the UK do too

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  8. Richard Greene, certainly where I live in Cumbria, some warming would be appreciated. Despite official gaslighting to the contrary, it has felt distinctly cool here so far this year. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many nice warm days we have enjoyed in 2026 to date. If my memory serves me right (and it’s always possible it doesn’t) we’ve normally had many more days by now.

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  9. having visited the UK twice i would imagine that people in the UK would celebrate global warming

    the best climate on earth for humans would be a warming trend during an interglacial

    for the past 50 years earth has had a warming trend during an interglacial

    but instead of celebrating our wonderful climate many people act like old men complaining about the weather every day of their life

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  11. Little snippet on Countryfile this evening, on a visit to Loch Leven, north of Edinburgh. One of the items was about changes affecting wildlife and the manager of the reserve commented that Springs have been getting colder which slows down grass growth.

    How did that survive the editing process?

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  12. “Is there a late spring heatwave on the way?”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c4g5zgzre5ro

    The answer seems to be probably not – certainly for most of the country – but who cares? The BBC got the headline and the accompanying picture, and that’s what people will remember.

    Parts of the UK are preparing for a possible heatwave as temperatures are forecast to rise as high as 28C ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

    This comes after a period of unusually cold weather last week.

    For the next few days temperatures will be back up to nearer average before starting to climb further….

    …The main reason for the warmer weather is a change in the wind direction.

    It was so cold last week because the wind was blowing from the north….

    …It is possible that a few places could meet the heatwave definition during Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At the moment, counties like Herefordshire and Worcestershire look most likely.

    But a lot depends on whether showers develop over the bank holiday weekend….

    …The good news is that it still looks warm for many places with temperatures 20-26 Celsius over the long weekend…

    …Monday is looking dry but an easterly wind is expected to develop, which will keep North Sea coastal areas cooler.

    The details over the weekend are still uncertain….

    It’s interesting that some brief warm weather is described as good news! They spend much of their time trying to scare us about this sort of thing.

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  13. The BBC, as is its wont, is ramping this story up now:

    “Temperatures could reach 30C in bank holiday weekend heatwave”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c3328epvm2do

    So now it is going to be a heatwave? Or perhaps not…

    Temperatures are forecast to rise as high as 30C in parts of the UK as a potential heatwave develops across the long bank holiday weekend. [My emphasis].

    …If readings reach 30C before Monday, it will be the earliest date this has happened in the UK for over 70 years….

    Suggesting that this sort of thing happened more than 70 years ago…

    They have opened it up to a Have Your Say, and comments aren’t going well (the following are among the highest rated):

    Since it has been cold, with a bitterly cold wind recently, it will be a welcome change with a heatwave..Its about time, as the Spring weather has not been good….

    …It’ll be nice to have a bank holiday with sunshine rather than the usual
    miserable weather…

    …Could the Beeb please join up this article with the what the weather site is showing? You are reporting possible 30 deg C temps while the weather pages only estimate a max of 27….

    …But if the BBC reported the real weather forecast it wouldn’t be able to run alarmist articles from UK Health Scare Agency press releases on how to survive a heat wave….

    …Let me know when it gets warmer. I’m still in my winter clothes….

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  14. The BBC is determined to ramp it up:

    “Six ways to keep your home and yourself cool in hot weather”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz6gxe61p70o

    When temperatures soar, here are six simple things you can do to keep your home and yourself cool.

    Well, the warmest temperature in the forecast for where we live during the forthcoming “heatwave” is 22C (daily highs starting today: 15C; 17C; 16C; 18C; 20C; 21C; 22C; 20C; 18C; 16C. We’re just hoping to be able to turn the central heating off at last (it’s still on at the moment).

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  15. Central heating off at last for me as well. See they (forecasters) are beginning to talk more about the Jet Stream & “urban heat island” effect on temps. Can you guess where the highest temps will be recorded. A pint of NORSEMAN CRAFT LAGER LAUNCH for the winner 🙂

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  16. Norseman Craft Lager? Norseman Lager used to be brewed by Vaux Breweries in Sunderland 30 years or more ago. Not generally regarded as the best pint it ever brewed!

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  19. As reported on Radio 4’s PM. Without even a trace of embarrassment, the weather presenter said, 28.4 at Heathrow Airport. (Or equivalent words.) He also said that the record for May might be broken (and if memory serves, he said it had stood since ?1947). What was Heathrow Airport like in May 1947?

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  20. When was the last time the UK reached 30°C in May? – Met Office

    “The hottest May days on record

    While reaching 30°C in May is rare, the UK has experienced some high temperatures during the month. Records of the hottest May days provide further insight into how marked late spring heat can become when conditions align.

    The highest temperatures recorded in May is 32.8°C, with several notable occurrences. These include readings at Camden Square and Greenwich in Greater London during May 1922, as well as across parts of southeast England including Tunbridge Wells and Horsham during late May 1944.

    Other significant hot days include temperatures of around 32.2°C recorded at Camden Square on 31 May 1947, and 31.7°C recorded at Heathrow and Farnham on 25 May 1953. Most of these highest temperatures are concentrated in southern and southeastern England, where proximity to continental Europe and generally lower cloud cover increases the likelihood of warmth during settled conditions.”

    The take away bit for me – “further insight into how marked late spring heat can become when conditions align”.

    So weather, although MSM/BBC will never miss a chance to scare us with climate change.

    You have to wonder why nobody in the MSM asks the obvious question – “so 80yrs ago it was as hot, why is not far hotter now given the increase in CO2”.

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  22. How the BBC seeks to control the narrative:

    “UK braces for hottest May day on record as 30C heat continues”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c794j5zwppno

    A single short headline with four potentially misleading aspects.

    First, who is “bracing” for some pleasantly warm weather? These are the sort of temperatures that millions of people in the UK seek every year when they go on holiday to places like Turkey, Greece and Spain.

    Second, the “hottest May day on record” may or may not be achieved – and if it is it may well be down to UHI and the location where its set (Kew Gardens or Heathrow Airport, anyone? Kew Gardens is where yesterday’s highest temperature was recorded).

    Third, most of the UK hasn’t seen temperatures anywhere near 30C yet and is unlikely to do so this month, never mind “30C heat continues”.

    Fourth, it follows that whether or not anyone is bracing for (rather than enjoying) the heat, it isn’t the UK that is doing so, it’s a small part of southern England.

    The body of the article opens in similarly misleading vein, assuring us that “searing heat continues”. Not where I live, it doesn’t! It was a borderline decision yesterday evening whether or not to put the central heating back on for a couple of hours. And I can guarantee that, far from my nonagenarian mother being at risk of dying from the heat, the central heating is on at her apartment.

    The narrative that some nice, warm weather is bad for us and we’re all desperately waiting for it to end, continues later in the article:

    Most weather forecast models show that respite will begin next weekend….

    The reality is that the warm weather is a temporary blip, in what has been a cold start to the year, including well into May, in much of the country. That “respite”? It not only starts at the weekend, but continues

    …more starkly into next week.

    The jet stream, to the north of us this week, will wobble back southwards, meaning areas of low pressure, occasional rain, stronger winds, and a drop in temperature as we head into the first week of June….

    Business as usual, then.

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  23. In the brief time it took me to write that the BBC has elevated this to the top story on its website and changed the headline to “Hottest May day on record expected in UK, with temperatures forecast to hit 34C”. It’s apparently so exciting that they’ve turned it into one of their ongoing rolling news stories.

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  24. Has the BBC taken over from the Guardian as propagandist-in-chief? The Guardian’s article headline is more accurate and less misleading than the BBC’s today:

    “Hottest May day for nearly 80 years as parts of UK hit heatwave threshold”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/24/uk-heatwave-expected-as-temperatures-near-record-highs-for-may

    Having said that, the article contains all the usual stuff:

    …The climate crisis is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat. Large parts of western Europe are experiencing similar peaks, and the French national weather agency, Météo-France, said periods of exceptional heat are to be expected “more and more often and more and more prematurely, and to be more and more intense”.

    A Met Office spokesperson said: “Breaking the 32.8C May record is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in natural climate conditions before the Industrial Revolution.

    “What was around a one-in-100-year event is now around a one-in-33-year event.”…

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  25. We have been having jersey on off days depending on the wind and if some clouds go over. Being not very scientific with my garden thermometer at 15:00 we had – in the shade and shelter from the wind 16c , in the sun and shelter 20c , cloud cover and wind 14c so jersey back on. Still the same wind but less clouds today, will keep my jersey to hand.

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  26. Just as yesterday’s highest temperature was set at an airfield, today they have the record that they have been salivating over – at Heathrow. What a joke. Does anyone take this alarmism seriously? It’s a pleasant 22C where I live.

    “Hottest May day ever recorded in UK as temperature reaches 33.5C at Heathrow”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1w24llvj48t

    ….According to the Met Office, the previous May record stood at 32.8C.

    That temperature was recorded in Camden Square on 22 May 1922 and then again in Horsham, Tunbridge Wells and Regent’s Park on 29 May 1944.

    Now, 82 years later, the record for May has been surpassed at Heathrow….

    Given the very different locations where the records were set, and given the massive intensification of the UHI since those earlier records were set, so what?

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  27. A summary of the day’s temperature “records”:

    A provisional figure of 34.8C – at Kew Gardens, a notorious UHI.

    Wales has also experienced its hottest May day, reaching 32.2C at Hawarden Airport in Flintshire.

    That’s another location that regularly features when it’s claimed that records have been set in Wales. Another location that is artificially warmed by its situation.

    The best that Scotland and Northern Ireland could do is see the hottest temperatures of the year to date. No “records” then. Despite the artificial nature of these records, the BBC assures us:

    Climate change is believed to have played a role in such hot spells as this.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xwwpkrgj1o

    I wonder what was responsible for the previous records, set in 1922 and 1944, at locations that were uncontaminated by UHI and poor/inappropriate siting of weather stations?

    Horsham, which matched the previous record in 1944, didn’t beat that record today.

    Northern Ireland’s record high temperature for May, set in 1922, still stands. Interestingly, there are many similarities between the weather patterns in May 1922 and May 2026:

    https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/202205_observers_notes_may_2022.docx.pdf

    There are also similarities with the weather patterns in 1944. I asked AI, and this is what it said:

    The extreme heatwave at the end of May 1944—which tied the 1922 record of 32.8°C (91.0°F)—was caused by a sudden and dramatic shift in atmospheric circulation that drew hot air directly from central Europe. 

    Paradoxically, May 1944 was mostly a very cold, frosty month. The record-breaking heat occurred because of a rapid change in weather systems during the final week of the month: 

    For the first three weeks of May 1944, the UK was caught between high pressure over the Atlantic and low pressure over mainland Europe. This setup pulled a bitterly cold, northerly air mass down from Iceland, causing severe frosts that heavily damaged British crops as late as 22 May. 

    Around 24 May, the atmospheric layout completely flipped. A massive high-pressure system built over central Europe. As high pressure establishes itself, the air within it sinks, compresses, and warms up significantly. 

    Because winds rotate clockwise around high-pressure systems in the Northern Hemisphere, the positioning of this central European anticyclone altered the airflow over the British Isles. The wind shifted from a freezing northerly direction to a strong south-southwesterly and southerly flow. This dragged an intensely warm, dry air mass out of the European continent and pushed clear, cloudless skies across southern England. 

    By 29 May, the UK was under maximum solar baking. With the summer solstice less than a month away, the daytime sun was incredibly strong. The combination of warm continental air, light winds, and unbroken sunshine caused temperatures to skyrocket from near-freezing to a record-tying 32.8°C in Horsham, Tunbridge Wells, and Regent’s Park in just a matter of days. 

    My take on all this is that it has nothing to do with climate change. It’s a repeat weather pattern that happens from time to time. With a combination of significantly increased population, urbanisation, UHI and inappropriately located weather stations, the only surprise is that it has taken so long for a record set in 1922 and again in 1944 to be broken.

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  28. By the way, Hawarden is WMO category 4, while RAF Coningsby and and Heathrow are WMO category 3. Almost incredibly, Kew Gardens is WMO category 2.

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  31. JamesS,

    Excellent. Lots of scope for more Met Office weather stations at WMO level 5. The possibilities for new temperature records could be endless.

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  33. If the surroundings of these weather stations were still carrying some of the previous day’s warmth there could be a cumulative effect?

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