Madam,

July 2018 has been, without doubt, one of the harshest months on record for the people of Ceredigion to endure.

A normal July sees the daytime temperatures average around 19.5°C (67°F) with a few degrees either way.

Similarly at night the temperature should average around 11°C (52°F) with a few degrees either way, and over the course of the month we should expect to see around 63.5mm (2½ inches of rain).

However, this July is anything but normal.

As things stand at the moment, the average daytime high has been 20.5°C (69°F), with a range of 8°C (so from 18°C to 26°C) and the average night-time low has been 16°C (61°F) with the range being 5.5°C (so, from 14°C to 19.5°C), and as for rainfall we have only had 13.5mm (half an inch) during the whole month.

Face facts, Ceredigion, the climate has changed. Therefore, it is no good talking about carbon emissions reduction, we need to eliminate carbon emissions and take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

The best way of doing the latter is to write to the chairman of your local community council and demand that during the next planting season they commit to plant two trees for every resident in their locality, for it is trees growing that are the best way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

And what of the cost, they may ask, a cost that has to be borne by council tax-payers?

Well, I would argue this. The cost of not doing it would see Ceredigion having the same climate as central Spain today where daytime highs in the summer regularly reach 35°C (95°F) for weeks on end.

The weather data included in this letter has been sourced from my own personal weather station in Llanrhystud.

Yours etc,

Harry Hayfield, Llanrhystud.

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