Climate and extreme weather ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
2. 0:11I'm Phil.
3. 0:12It seems that we're hearing about more and more terrible weather events,
4. 0:16but how exactly is climate change affecting extreme weather?
5. 0:20I'm lucky today to be joined by BBC weather forecaster, meteorologist
6. 0:24and presenter Sarah Keith-Lucas. Hi, Sarah.
7. 0:27Hi, Phil, it's great to be here.
8. 0:29Sarah is here to help us understand what's happening with extreme weather.
9. 0:33She'll also help explain some of the words and expressions used
10. 0:36in a new series of BBC Learning English videos, all about weather and climate,
11. 0:41and the language we use to talk about them.
12. 0:43You can find the link to them
13. 0:44on our web page or in the show notes for this podcast.
14. 0:47Sarah, let's start with a really important question.
15. 0:50What's the difference between climate and weather?
16. 0:54That's a great question, Phil.
17. 0:56The weather is what you see and feel every day.
18. 0:59Climate is more long term.
19. 1:01Today, I'll explain how a change in the climate
20. 1:04over the long term can be seen in the weather that we experience.
21. 1:08And as always,
22. 1:09we'll also be learning some key vocabulary to talk about the topic.
23. 1:13And Sarah, it's traditional for us to set a quiz question.
24. 1:16Have you got one for us? Yes I have.
25. 1:19By how much has the Earth's temperature increased since 1970?
26. 1:24Is it a) around 0.5C?
27. 1:28b) around 1C or c) around 2C?
28. 1:34Erm, around 2C?
29. 1:35I'll give you the answer at the end of the programme,
30. 1:38so listen to the end to find out.
31. 1:40Now we're going to talk about tropical storms.
32. 1:44What do we mean by tropical storms, Sarah?
33. 1:47Well those are hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons.
34. 1:51They're large rotating storms formed over warm tropical waters.
35. 1:55They're actually the same.
36. 1:57We just use different names depending on where in the world they form.
37. 2:01Hurricanes in the Atlantic.
38. 2:04Cyclones in the Indian Ocean and typhoons in the West Pacific.
39. 2:08As the world warms,
40. 2:10climate scientists think that these storms will get more destructive.
41. 2:14In one of our new learning English for weather videos.
42. 2:17Meteorologist Darren Bett tells us about another worrying change.
43. 2:22Scientists also think storms are slowing down.
44. 2:26They're not moving across as quickly.
45. 2:28And that means if a storm is in the same area for longer,
46. 2:33the winds will be stronger for longer and the rain will last for longer,
47. 2:37producing more flooding and more likelihood of flooding and landslides
48. 2:43and also mudslides.
49. 2:45Darren said that if a storm moves more slowly,
50. 2:48there will be more likelihood of flooding.
51. 2:51'Likelihood' is the noun that we use to say how probable
52. 2:54or how likely something is to happen.
53. 2:57Darren also told us about landslides and mudslides.
54. 3:01Yes, landslides are where a large amount of earth
55. 3:05or rock moves down a slope quickly.
56. 3:08Mudslides tend to be faster and more liquid.
57. 3:12Both of these things can happen after particularly heavy rain
58. 3:16and can cause damage to buildings.
59. 3:19People can also be killed or injured by them.
60. 3:22What else causes loss of life in a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone?
61. 3:26Well, something else that is very dangerous is a storm surge.
62. 3:30Let's hear again from my colleague Darren Bett.
63. 3:33Storm surge.
64. 3:34That's that body of water that gets swept inland
65. 3:37and produces widespread flooding.
66. 3:39Climate change is warming our seas and the sea levels are rising.
67. 3:45That potentially could mean that storm surge, which is one element
68. 3:51of a storm that produces more casualties than any other.
69. 3:55Those storm surges could become even more dangerous.
70. 3:59So, we had the word 'casualty',
71. 4:02and this is used to talk about people killed or injured by an accident,
72. 4:06a military attack, or in this case, an extreme weather event.
73. 4:09Darren talked about storm surges.
74. 4:12A storm surge is where the sea level rises quickly,
75. 4:16pushed by strong winds caused by a storm.
76. 4:19This water comes onto land with an enormous amount of force,
77. 4:24and storm surges can be up to ten metres high.
78. 4:27Buildings get destroyed and people can drown.
79. 4:31We heard about the storm sweeping inland.
80. 4:33Something sweeping in is moving quickly and powerfully,
81. 4:37and you can hear more from Darren in the videos on our website.
82. 4:41Sarah, how about the answer to the quiz question you asked earlier?
83. 4:45OK, Phil. So I asked by
84. 4:47how much has the world's average temperature increased since 1970?
85. 4:52And I thought it was around 2C.
86. 4:55It's actually around 1C.
87. 4:581C is just an average across all of Earth's land and ocean surface.
88. 5:03Some places are warming much quicker than this, such as the Arctic.
89. 5:07That's warming three times faster than the average rate,
90. 5:10just a small increase in average temperature can lead to
91. 5:13a much bigger increase in extreme events such as heatwaves, wildfires and floods.
92. 5:19Wow. So that is an important difference.
93. 5:22OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned starting with 'likelihood',
94. 5:27which is the noun that we use to talk about how probable
95. 5:30or how likely something is to happen.
96. 5:32Landslides and mudslides, which can occur after heavy rainfall,
97. 5:37make earth or mud move downhill very fast.
98. 5:41A storm surge is a sudden rise in the sea level that can move inland,
99. 5:46causing destruction.
100. 5:47If something sweeps in, it moves in very fast and very powerfully.
101. 5:52And finally, a casualty is someone who is injured
102. 5:56or killed by an accident, attack,
103. 5:58or something like an extreme weather event. Once again our six minutes are up.
104. 6:02Goodbye. Thanks for joining us today,
105. 6:04Sarah! Bye!