The Know Daily - Thursday 30 May 2024

_{Read in 5m 24s ∙ Listening to Clairo ∙}

Two black-and-white ruffed lemurs have been born at a Scottish safari park, with conservationists describing their arrival as a “beacon of hope”. The critically endangered animals are native to Madagascar, but fewer than 1,000 remain in the wild - and fun fact for the day, they have the second-loudest primate call in the animal kingdom 🔊 

☔ When it rains…

The heavy downpours which affected the UK and Ireland last winter were made more likely by human-caused climate change, a new study has found.

It was a pretty stormy winter…
It certainly was. The period between October 2023 and March 2024 was the second-wettest on record, with downpours causing flooding, blackouts and travel chaos across the country. And according to a team of scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, this rain was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global warming.

Was this a one-off?
Unfortunately not. As the planet continues to warm, this kind of extreme weather will become more common. Without climate change, the amount of rain caused by storms last winter would have occurred just once every 50 years - but now, we could see these rain levels once every 5 years. This is because warmer air can hold more water vapour, which then gets released as rain, explained The Guardian.

What should be done about it?
Climate scientists have said that the UK must adapt to become more resilient to increased rainfall and introduce better flood management. Such measures could include “reforesting bare hillsides” to soak up water run-off and replacing hard surfaces in cities with permeable ones, one expert told inews.

And in the longer term…?
Dr Friederike Otto, co-founder of WWA, said that while climate change was already making life more difficult, “thankfully, we know the solutions”. “Replace oil, gas and coal with cleaner, cheaper renewable sources of energy; insulate homes, and restore nature,” she told The Guardian, adding: “all this will make life cheaper and better for all”.