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The changing climate

| Palma |

Just look at how the weather patterns have changed here in the Balearics over the past 20 years. I have now been here for the best part of 25 and I, like many others, will remember when we very nearly had four seasons.

April was traditionally a wet month after a milder winter and the summers were no way near as hot, if not slightly longer - heatwaves were few and far between and sudden onslaughts of torrential rain and flash flooding isolated incidents.

Today, as we’ve witnessed this week and over the past few years, the weather can turn in a matter of hours and the outcomes can be extreme, if not fatal.

We started this week with flooding and near record amounts of rain, just look at the images of Puerto Soller - it was the port’s second wettest single December day on record.

Yesterday, restaurant and bar terraces were packed with people enjoying the sunshine and temperatures in the high teens - what a great Bank Holiday weekend.

And, whereas traditionally, Minorca would always get the worst of the weather in the Balearics, more recently it appears to be Ibiza, there has been a definite shift in local weather patterns.

Now, if all this dramatic change has happened here in the minute area of the Balearics, just think about what is happening around the rest of the world. Climate change is now the buzz word for global governments and big business. I just hope it’s not too late.

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