Following a story in yesterday’s Times, the Mail reports on comments by
BBC weather man Paul Hudson about the accuracy of Met Office
temperature projections. Hudson argues 13 out of the past 14 years’
predictions have been “on the warm side”, despite saying a few
paragraphs later that the observed temperatures fall well within
the uncertainty range the Met Office gives alongside its
projections.

Flood-stricken Somerset is set to receive help from army
troops and vehicles, after appealing to the government for help.
Environment minister Owen Paterson said, “As we speak, the Ministry
of Defence and the Department of Local Government are discussing
how we could deploy specialist vehicles which could help some of
those villages which have been cut off.” The Telegraphis reporting comments
by Prime Minister David Cameron, calling for dredging of rivers to
be carried out swiftly to relieve severe flooding across parts of
Britain.

Energy companies’ offers of compensation for communities
affected by fracking for shale gas don’t seem to be working,
reports the Telegraph. A recent poll shows public support for the
practice dropping from 40 per cent last summer to less than 25 per
cent now, with the biggest concerns being contamination of ground
water and the environmental impact of more gas.

The latest release of documents from whistleblower Edward
Snowden reveal the United States monitored the emails and calls of
delegates in the run up to the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009.
This comes as little surprise to Danish officials who said the
American officials seemed “peculiarly well informed” about
discussions behind closed doors. The revelations are unlikely to
help build the trust of negotiators form other nations in the
future, notes the Huffington Post.

In yesterday’s State of the Union speech, Obama devoted a
fair bit of time to environmental and energy policies, urging the
United States “to act with more urgency” on tackling climate
change. The President’s comments were welcomed by some as evidence
the Obama administration “is ready to get down to business on
climate change”. But critics have highlighted the “blind spot” of
continued fossil fuel extraction while the Financial Timescriticises Obama’s
“all of the above” statements on energy strategy, concluding that
it “included something for everyone, but no one seemed
pleased”.

Heavy rainstorms and extreme heat are making the early lives
of new born penguin chicks more perilous, reports the BBC. The new
27-year analysis of the world’s biggest colony of Magellanic
penguins found chick are too big for their parents to sit on top of
and keep warm, but too young to have waterproof feathers. Exposure
to the elements accounted for half the deceased chicks in one year
and 43 per cent in another. The Daily Mailand the New York Timesalso cover the new
research.

If the UK is to fulfil its renewable energy potential, more
than a third of households should be fitted with solar panels in
the next six years, according to new research from Imperial College
London. This would allow the country to produce about six percent
of its yearly electricity needs from solar power, but will only be
possible if the government spearheads the move.

Want to know what the public thinks about climate and
energy? Polling expert Leo Barasi brings together polling over the
years to find most people think climate change is happening and
want the government to do something about it. Few think there’s no
need for action, and most see flooding as the biggest threat facing
the UK.

Is there trouble at the top? Nick Butler speculates about
the governance and finances of Royal Dutch Shell after some
irregularities in the timing of the release of its latest profits
warming.

Grist interrogates Tuesday’s State of the Union address,
welcoming US President Barack Obama’s stance on climate change but
wondering if it can really square with his determination to carry
on extracting fossil fuels. Ben Adler,
Grist

What will be the fate of Alpine plants under a warming
climate? It’s a question that’s never been clearly answered.
Scientists have studied the same locations 50 years apart and found
a third of the species declined while new ones had come in to “fill
the ecological gaps”.