Your Highland weather stories wanted for new map that will be vital for region's climate change preparations
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WEATHER stories and people’s lived experiences of the climate on their doorstep are being eagerly sought by a new project aimed at helping the Highlands prepare for a warming world.
Amid continued concerns over global warming, Highland communities are bracing for a future where life in the region may be different to that of the past – from later flowering plants in people’s gardens to high-impact weather events hitting the transport network.
And a new project is looking to map people’s weather experiences and so help assess the climate risks facing the region into the future.
The Highland Adapts partnership has brought together a range of businesses, public sector bodies, land managers and people, with the aim of making the region “prosperous and climate ready”.
Its climate change co-ordinator, Harper Loonsk, is eager for people to share their own experiences and observations, so they can create as accurate a picture as possible.
“We usually cannot say if a specific weather event or trend is attributable to climate change, but we do know that we are going to experience extreme and abnormal weather events like those you have lived through more frequently,” she said. “This is why your past experiences are so important to us, when we try to think about how we will be impacted in the future.”
Highland Adapts have developed its online tool to help you share your stories. These could be about many different things – for example, a change that you have noticed over several years which has affected the way you travel, or a specific event which damaged some of your property during extreme weather. Harper added: “These stories will help us paint a more vivid picture of how we are experiencing weather and climate, so we hope you will join us in this vital stage of work for the regional risk assessment. We are really eager to hear from you!”
The Highland Adapts team will then use these observations to help shape its work drawing up a regional Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment to help the Highlands prepare for future climate change.
“Existing data shows us that the climate across our region is already changing, and it will continue to do so,” added Harper. “We now need our communities’ stories and real weather experiences to better understand what future climate change will mean for the people, places and landscapes that make up the Highland region.”
Since 2021, numerous organisations and groups have joined the Highland Adapts partnership and it is now asking the local community to get involved too.
Zero Waste Scotland are one of the key partners who support Highland Adapts. Helen Lavery works with Zero Waste Scotland and has recently taken up an additional role as the new programme board chair of Highland Adapts. And she has stressed the importance of the public’s feedback in forming the new risk and opportunities assessment.
She said: “The regional climate risk and opportunity assessment is an essential piece of work that will help guide and influence policy development, investment priorities and climate action
“It is important that the assessment is place-based with lived experiences woven through. Therefore, I urge everyone to add their weather and climate stories to the current Highland Adapts consultation – to add richness and real-life experience to the existing climate data.”
– The Highland Weather and Climate Story Map is available at https://highlandadapts.commonplace.is.
Responses already received on the new weather and climate story map include experiences of flooding on the Highland Mainline, and the impact of increasingly heavy rains on the roof of a Scorguie resident’s home.
A rail passenger on the Highland Mainline:
Generally the community copes well but the railway line is often the first thing to be affected by our more extreme weather events: flooding, high winds, ice, snow.
“Anything that stops the trains from running smoothly… the railway line is the only railway transport link between the Highlands and central belt. Many of us trying to reduce car use try and use it for going to Inverness and the central belt. It is also used as a rail freight route by a major supermarket to get goods to its northern stores in Inverness and beyond. Tourists use the train to travel north of Perth.
“There are a range of economic consequences if this rail route is disrupted: local residents, visitors and businesses are all affected.”
A Scorguie homeowner’s experiences:
Heavier rain in shorter spaces of time have caused my roof to leak even though it is in good state of repair.
“High January/February winds have become stronger causing damage to my property. Hotter drier days in summer lasting longer without rain have caused my grass to turn brown and plant losses.
“My home becomes unbearably hot in the summer.”
A resident living near Grantown-on-Spey:
In July 2021, a sudden deluge caused our burn to burst its banks.
“Our drive was washed away in a few minutes. The remedy was to install a storm drain!
“I never thought that would be necessary in the Highlands.”
And another resident near Grantown-on-Spey:
The winters are rapidly warming and becoming very unpredictable.
“When I was growing up here as a child only 15-20 years ago I remember the winters being much colder, snowier, and more predictable with the conditions.
“We would frequently get deep snow in the garden and in the town. Now it is pretty rare.”
– What are your experiences? Add them online at https://highlandadapts.commonplace.is.
