Weird weather patterns in a changing world

WEIRD WEATHER, last week. After seven or so weeks of almost constant sunshine and skies as peerless blue as Andalucia, suddenly the light was grey, the air was dead and a prickly, humid heat enveloped us.

Friends remarked that this summer, even in the sun, the air seemed not as fresh as it used to be, that there was a climatic shift towards the dead heat of continental Europe. I’m not sure about that but, certainly, in the muggy weather of early last week, people not usually given to complaint, complained, and went around red-faced and sweaty, waving improvised fans.

Twenty-two degrees, and not a puff of air.