Climate sceptics are having a field day: a month of frozen Britain with record-breaking sub zero temperatures, surely, they say, that puts an end to the climate change debate?

But the climate change deniers are failing to understand basic meteorology; that weather is not the same as climate. Weather is what happens locally on a day-to-day basis while climate is what happens with the weather over a larger area over the long-term, and that is what's changing.  For a 2 minute video summary click here for this great BBC report.

Also, living in the UK, we might be tempted to think that what happens here is indicative of what's happening globally, it's not. While it has been colder than average in some parts of the northern hemisphere, it has been 5-10C warmer in Alaska, northern Canada, North Africa and the Mediterranean. In fact, it looks as if the temperature differences have been caused by blocks of high pressure preventing air-flow between the land and the sea. Further proof of more unstable weather patterns caused by climate change.

If you still need convincing, new figures show that Australia's temperatures over the past 10 years were the hottest since records began and considering the relative sizes of Australia and the UK, this is something we should be taking more notice of. We must avoid the short-term interpretation: one cold UK winter is not the end of global warming.

p.s. can you spot the eco-saving device in the picture below?