Lesson video

Hi, geographers.

My name's Ms. Hoggett, and I'm really excited you're here to learn some geography with me today.

I'm sure if you try your best, you're going to be absolutely fantastic.

Don't worry too much if you haven't studied this topic before.

I'm here to help you every step of the way.

"Impacts of climate change on the UK," and this sits within the unit, "Weather and Climate: How do they vary?" Our learning outcome for today's lesson is that I can understand the impacts of climate change on the UK.

To help us through today's lesson, we have a number of keywords that are going to be really useful to us.

Impact, extreme weather, and climate change.

An impact is to have an effect on someone or something.

Extreme weather, a severe weather event or any weather that is significantly different from the average.

And climate change, large-scale and long-term change in the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperature.

So the key terms, impact, extreme weather, and climate change are going to be really helpful in today's lesson.

This lesson is split into two learning cycles.

How is climate change affecting the UK's weather and what impact will climate change have on the UK? We're going to start with our first one now.

How is climate change affecting the UK's weather? So the UK has a temperate maritime climate.

In general, this means that we have a mild and wet climate with changeable weather.

I think we're all quite used to the familiar scenes that we can see in the image, walking around with an umbrella because it's raining, and that's because we have a temperate maritime climate.

Now across the UK, we can expect the following as a result of climate change, warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more extreme weather events.

So it's likely that our winter months, whilst they may still feel cold, they'll be slightly warmer and they probably will be wetter.

In our summer, we're likely to see more heat waves and really intensely hot weather.

And more extreme weather events, so events that are very different to what we would usually expect.

So let's check your understanding.

Which of these is not an expected impact of climate change in the UK? A, warmer and wetter winters.

B, increased frequency of earthquakes.

C, hotter and drier summers.

And D, more extreme weather events.

Pause the video and have a go at this check for understanding.

Well done if you said increased frequency of earthquakes.

We just discussed that warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more extreme weather events are the common expected impacts of climate change in the UK.

Good work, geographers.

Now, extreme weather is a severe weather event or any weather that's significantly different from the average.

So something that's significantly different than what we would expect for that time of year.

Sam says, "Examples of extreme weather include heat waves, droughts, and storms." And Jacob says, "Although extreme weather events would occur without global warming, we know that they are becoming more common and more extreme." I think it's really important here that we remember extreme weather isn't just intense rainfall and it can also relate to things like really hot heat waves as well.

So we must consider that variation when we're thinking about extreme weather.

Now to think about this in more detail, we're going to look at February 2020 because this is when the UK was impacted by three storms. So we had Storm Ciara, which caused flooding in Northern Ireland.

We then had Storm Dennis, causing flooding in West Yorkshire.

And we had Storm Jorge, causing trees to fall and flooding in Shropshire.

Now, Storm Ciara is where we're going to start because this brought heavy rain and strong winds when it arrived in the UK on the 9th of February 2020.

Huge waves battered the coast on the isle of Wight and wind speeds of up to 97 miles per hour were recorded.

If we take a look at the image, we can see the huge waves battering the coastline.

The waves dwarfed the nine metre high lighthouse at Porthcawl in Wales.

Here, we have a satellite image showing storm clouds covering most of the UK in February 2020.

Storm Ciara actually soaked parts of Northwest England and North Wales.

In some places, more rain fell in one day due to Storm Ciara than they would expect to see in the whole month.

So we know that's really extreme and much more than what we'd usually expect.

I've labelled Northwest England and North Wales on the map there, so you can see exactly where we're talking about.

Now only a few days later, Storm Dennis moved through the UK on the 13th to the 19th of February.

The intense winds and rainfall meant that large waves hit low-lying coastlines, including Swansea in Wales, Newquay in Cornwall, Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

Now, the arrival of Storm Jorge on the 28th of February brought more heavy rain.

February 2020 was the wettest ever recorded.

These three storms accounted for 44% of the month's expected average rainfall.

Now on the map, we can see from the Met Office on the screen we've got a choropleth map, and what that does is it uses colour to help us show key values.

As you can see, it varies across the UK.

The UK received more than twice as much rain as it normally would in that month, so we know it was significantly different to normal.

In July 2022, the UK experienced a heat wave.

The temperature reached over 40 degrees Celsius at one UK weather station in Lincolnshire and many more recorded temperatures above the previous UK record of 38.

7 degrees Celsius.

So this is another example of extreme weather that has occurred in the UK recently.

Now, as a result of this heat wave, drought was also a problem that summer, as less rain fell than in the average summer.

So let's check your understanding so far.

All extreme weather events involve hot and dry weather.

True or false? Pause the video and have a go at this check for understanding.

Well done for giving that are really good go, geographers.

Let's check your answer.

So the correct answer is false.

Why? Because extreme weather can include extremes of hot, dry, cold, wet, and windy weather.

We know that because we've just looked at the February storms of 2020 and the July heat wave in 2022.

Good work, geographers.

So we're now gonna have a practise at what you've learned so far.

And for the first part of this practise task, I would like you to complete a bar graph showing the frequency of extreme weather events per year in the UK from 2015 to 2023.

So you've been given the y and x-axes for your graph and the title is already there, "Number of extreme weather events in 2015 to 2023." And then on the right-hand side of the screen, you have got a table with the data on it that I would like you to use.

For part two of this practise task, I would like you to describe the trend on the graph using the sentence starters below to help you.

Generally, the number of extreme weather events that occur each year has.

For example.

However.

Take a moment and pause the video to have a go at completing this practise task.

Well done for giving that a go, geographers, I'm sure you've done brilliantly.

Let's check your answers now.

So as we can see on the graph, we have got a bar for every month from 2015 to 2023, and we can see that they change in the number of extreme weather events.

Check mine against yours and check you've got those spot on.

Good work.

Now for part two, we needed to describe the trend on the graph using the sentence starters below to help you.

So what we should have written is generally the number of extreme weather events that occur in the UK each year has increased.

For example, in 2015, there were only four recorded extreme weather events.

But in 2023, there were 12.

However, there are some anomalies to this.

For example, in 2022, there were only four recorded events, the same number as in 2015.

You're doing a brilliant job, geographers, so far, and we're now at the end of learning cycle one, ready to move on to learning cycle two.

What impacts will climate change have on the UK? So an impact refers to the effects on something or someone.

The UK is really vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as are other countries.

Now, impacts can be categorised differently because they could be immediate, which means they happen in the days to weeks, or they could be long term, which means they happen in the months to years.

They can also be social, so to do with education and healthcare; economic, to do with money and infrastructure; or environmental, to do with the physical and the human landscape.

So we can categorise our impacts really differently, which will be important to remember later.

Now, social effects,.

the things about health and education, can include things like more extreme heat creating health risks for our society.

For example, heat waves put vulnerable people at risk, particularly older people.

Environmental impacts.

If the UK experiences intense rainfall events more often, this will cause an increase in flooding.

As an island nation, the UK will be particularly vulnerable to global sea level rise.

This process could flood low-lying coastal areas.

Climate change will also have an impact on farming.

Some crops will be easier to grow because there will be a longer growing season, bigger harvests and more food.

However, some crops will be harder to grow.

And as a result, we'll need more food imports, so that means bringing it in from another country, higher prices for some produce, and diet changes.

So the UK will likely experience big impacts of climate change on farming.

There's also economic impacts.

So flood damage to homes and businesses is expensive to sort out.

We do have some existing flood defences, like the Thames Barrier in London, and that helps to protect the UK capital from flooding.

This overcomes the issue of having to pay for that flood damage and tries to minimise the impacts of that.

More flood protection structures and plans are needed to meet the risk though 'cause at the moment, we do not have enough flood protection in place.

Now sometimes, immediate impacts can actually lead to those long-term impacts, almost like a knock-on effect.

So for example, when flooding can cause damage to infrastructure, we might then see increased government spending in the future.

They are both economic impacts, but one of them happens in the days to week after the extreme weather event and the increased spending is happening months to years after, so it's a long-term effect.

People suffering with heat stroke due to heat waves is a social impact.

And as a result, there is increased pressure on the NHS due to long-term health risks for vulnerable people.

So we can see that the increased pressure is actually lasting months to years after the event and therefore that's long term.

So these immediate impacts are leading on to long term impacts.

Let's check you've understood that.

So what I would like you to do is match the impact to the correct category.

So vulnerable people at risk of becoming ill.

Intense rainfall leading to flooding.

And homes may be damaged, which can cost lots of money.

Which ones of those are economic, which one is social, and which is environmental? Pause the video and have a go at completing this check for understanding.

Good work, geographers, I'm sure you've done fantastically.

Let's double check your answers.

So vulnerable people at risk of becoming ill is a social factor.

Intense rainfall leading to flooding is an environmental impact.

And homes being damaged, which can cost lots of money, is an economic factor.

You're doing brilliantly.

Well done.

So the storms in February 2020 had a number of social impacts.

So these are the impacts on healthcare and education.

So very sadly, a man died in Hampshire when a tree fell on his car.

There was also widespread flooding, causing thousands of people to have to evacuate their home, leading to temporary displacement, that is where people have to move to a different location either for the short term or the long term.

Many schools were closed due to safety concerns, disrupting the education for thousands of children.

And sporting events were cancelled, which obviously upset a lot of sports fans.

Similarly, the storms in February 2020 had a number of environmental impacts.

Huge waves battered coastlines with waves overtopping sea defences.

Reports of fallen trees and debris.

And flooding in the Pennines, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Wales, and Worcestershire really impacted that physical environment.

Finally, the storms in February 2020 had these economic impacts.

So this was on money and infrastructure.

So there were power cuts affecting 675,000 homes.

That's a huge number of homes that were affected.

Hundreds of flights, trains, and ferry services were cancelled.

The Humber Bridge and the Dartford Crossing were closed.

And over 1,400 homes and businesses were flooded.

So we could see the huge economic impact this has on the United Kingdom.

So let's check your understanding of those impacts.

So which of these impacts of the February 2020 storms are environmental? A, sporting events were cancelled.

B, power cuts affected thousands of homes.

C, trees were felled by strong winds.

D, the Humber Bridge and Dartford Crossing closed.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this question.

Well done for giving that a really good go.

The answer is C, trees felled by strong winds.

So it's impacting the physical environment.

Sporting events being cancelled, power cuts affecting thousands of homes, and the Humber Bridge and the Dartford Crossing closing are not environmental impacts.

Now let's consider how other extreme weather events can have slightly different impacts because the heat wave in July 2022 also had social, environmental, and economic impacts that were slightly different.

So more people went to hospital due to heat-related illnesses such as dehydration.

Schools remained open, but children in some places had shorter days in many parts of the country.

Several people died as a result of swimming in unsafe places.

Likewise, the July 2022 heat wave had these environmental impacts.

In North Yorkshire, at the Aysgarth Falls, it ran dry due to the combination of low rainfall and high evaporation due to high temperatures.

And several wildfires broke out in various places because of that intense heat.

Similarly, there were economic impacts.

Train services were severely disrupted due to tracks buckling and overhead power cables sagging.

Consequently, people were late for work and couldn't get to their destinations on time, which caused further disruption.

Flights were suspended at Luton airport after the heat affected the runway.

And there were problems with power cuts in parts of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and the Northeast.

So some of them were similar, but some of them were different.

Let's check your understanding of the impacts of the July 2022 heat wave.

So which of these were social impacts? A, trained services being disrupted.

B, fewer hospital beds for ill people.

C, the Aysgarth Falls running dry.

Or D, several wildfires broke out.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this check for understanding.

Well done for giving that go, geographers.

Did you get the correct answer? It was B, fewer hospital beds for ill people.

You're doing a brilliant job.

Fantastic.

I've got another check for understanding here and I'd like you to complete Jun's sentence by using the correct term.

Train service is being disrupted, more vulnerable people becoming ill, and rivers drying up are all examples of what type of impacts? Pause the video and have a go at completing this check for understanding.

Well done if you said short-term impacts.

So we can see there that we've got environmental, economic, and social impacts.

So therefore, we must be looking at the timeframe.

They're all short-term impacts.

Well done, geographers.

We're now going to practise what you've learned so far.

I'd like you to complete this table listing two or three short and long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of climate change in the UK.

You can refer to both the heat wave in 2022 and the flooding of 2020 to help you fill in this table.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this practise task.

Well done for giving that a really good go.

Let's check your answers.

So for this practise task, you needed to complete the table, listing two or three short and long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of climate change in the UK.

So for short-term economic impacts, you could have said power cuts, transport disruption, and homes and businesses flooded.

For economic impacts, you could have said increased government spending, loss of tourism, and economic inequality.

For short-term social impacts, you could have said more vulnerable people becoming ill, fatalities, and disruption to education.

And for long-term social impacts, you could have said health risks for people, particularly vulnerable people, and large-scale movement of people as well.

Environmentally in the short-term, there could be wildfires or flooding or fallen trees and debris.

But in the long-term, there could be a reduction in water quality and the amount available.

There could be things like coastal erosion and there could be a loss of biodiversity.

Now, you may have added some extra ones to the table yourself, but I'm sure you've got those absolutely spot on.

So to summarise today's lesson, we've looked at the impacts of climate change on the UK.

We now know that extreme weather events are becoming more likely in the UK as a result of climate change.

Examples of extreme weather include heat waves, droughts, and storms. The storms of February 2020 and the heat wave of July 2022 had a significant social, economic, and environmental impact.

And finally, the UK is vulnerable to the impacts of global sea level rise due to it being an island nation.

You have done brilliantly today, geographers, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you in our next lesson.

See you soon.