There are three interwoven strands which mark the progress of the weather/climate story throughout the past, during the present, and into the future. These are: its effect on human life - ordinary, commercial and political; our desire and ability to predict its fluctuations; and our inability to control it at the same time as inadvertently changing it.
This book traces these strands through history, and to offer some ideas where they may go in the next 100 years. Philip Eden looks at the world's weather since the end of the last glaciation eleven thousand years ago and mankind's ever increasing competence in predicting it. He describes and analyses the science of meteorology, from its origins in folk wisdom and proverbs right up to the latest supercomputers and satellites, showing how technological breakthroughs let us see the increasing instability of our climate.
This point is forcefully made by a series of mock forecasts for the period 2000-2100. These at once credible yet horrific scenarios show Britain in the grip of Arctic weather in 2008, record temperatures of 48.3 C in Sacremento in 2034, and balmy winters in Moscow in 2050.
The last chapter deals with 2100 and beyond, looking at the challenges for our grandchildren and the kind of changing climate they will face.
