Get used to this kind of heat

8:55am Friday 28th July 2006

Oxfordshire should brace itself for summers with even more of the violent thunderstorms that have been hitting the county.

Summers as scorching as this year - and hotter still - will become the norm for the county in years to come, Dr Chris West, the director of the UK Climate Impact Programme, forecast yesterday.

And Dr West, who is part of the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute, based in South Parks Road, added Oxfordshire could be transformed into an olive and wine-producing land with Mediterranean temperatures.

Dr West believes the extreme weather - such as hot, dry summers and more storms and torrential rain storms of the like which dumped a month's worth of rain on Oxfordshire in just over an hour on Saturday causing widespread chaos - will become increasingly common as temperatures rise.

He said: "It's not correct to say that the current hot spell is caused by global warming. But in the future this sort of summer will be more common.

"This summer and the heatwave of 2003 which was extremely hot, will be an average summer by the middle of the century, and by the 2060s will be quite a cool summer.

"Although the average temperature is rising a small amount, the day to day, year to year, variability of the weather will increase.

"Winters will be less cold and there will be more heavy sudden rainstorms and flash flooding.

"In 100 years our climate could be similar to the middle of France."

And Dr West predicts our way of life will change to suit our new weather a different climate will mean new crops will be planted, new species of wildlife will come to our island and some plants and animals will move gradually north where it will be cooler.

He said: "Farmers are very good at adapting and growing whatever there is a market for. It will be possible to grow some crops that are not here at the moment, such as Mediterranean style fruit crops, peaches, apricots, olives, and the production of wine could increase. Oilseed rape will give way to sunflowers."