Great Talks at Medway:The Beast from the East & the 2018 Heatwave. Is this a sign of things to come?

This is the first in a series of Great Talks by the University of Greenwich, Faculty of Engineering & Science.

The Beast from the East was a 9-day period of intense cold and heavy snowfall bringing freezing conditions from Siberia to the United Kingdom & Ireland during late February and early March this year.  Road and rail networks were badly affected and the Medway Campus was closed for four days that week – an extremely unusual occurrence.  The weather subsequently improved and May was the warmest since records began in 1910 with some spectacular thunderstorms, and flash flooding.  This summer we also experienced an intense heatwave – the effects were global, with wildfires in North America, Japan, Scandinavia, and Greece leading to loss of life and livelihood.

The lecture will look at whether more extreme weather conditions such as those experienced recently will become the norm on our future of climate state and also look at lessons from the past which suggest paradoxically that north-west Europe could experience decades of cooling in a warming world.

Andrew Haggard graduated from St Andrews University with an MA in Geographical Studies and then went on to complete a PhD at Durham University.  He has been a university lecturer for over 30 years and has continued to develop his interests in environmental history, archaeology and latterly forensic geoscience.

This FREE talk will be held in the Ward Room at the University of Greenwich (Medway Campus) in Pembroke Building at 6 pm and will be followed by light refreshments.  As these talks are popular admission is by registration only and places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.    To register for this lecture or for more information call 01634 883495 or email: ">.  There is free parking on site after 5 pm arrival.