5th May - Today's News: Wintry Storms, Snow in Southern France, Spain

Freak weather hits south of France - with snowfall , strong winds and big waves, whilst cold spell hits Spanish spring as well. Not just Britain being affecting by weather patterns of a distinctly wintry nature.

Edit: update (takes time for the British media to catch up!) - Cannes struggles to prepare for festival as unseasonal wind and waves batter coast

Down in Australia it's autumn, so less surprise here that first snow falls at Victoria's ski resorts after cold snap. And it's still chilly in Canada as old man winter returns to Edmonton.

Nashville's famed music quietened by flooding

Iceland's volcanic ash cloud shuts Scottish & Irish airports for second day

Ice cap on west Ugandan mountain range splits

And oh dear, more catastrophic global warming news: future temperatures could exceed livable limits, researchers find

Reasonable worst-case scenarios for global warming could lead to deadly temperatures for humans in coming centuries, according to research findings from Purdue University and the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Researchers for the first time have calculated the highest tolerable "wet-bulb" temperature and found that this temperature could be exceeded for the first time in human history in future climate scenarios if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate.

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"We found that a warming of 12 degrees Fahrenheit would cause some areas of the world to surpass the wet-bulb temperature limit, and a 21-degree warming would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment,"

Of course, were that to happen - in the way distant future (and there's no serious reason at present to suppose it will), far more of the world's land mass would actually be more temperate than today - people would just have to move. And most of those living in areas that might be come unliveable under worst case scenarios are already living in areas which aren't really sustainable for large human populations.

I expect to see the media pick up on this story with headlines misleadingly implying that half the planet will definitely become uninhabitable for humans ..... And for the so-called sceptics to then base their response purely on the media headlines. Mark my words.