We were warned for years, now Manchester is seeing the devastating impacts of climate change first hand

There was a time back in the late 1980s when Manchester was nicknamed ‘Madchester’ for the cultural uprising of local bands like the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays. But ‘Madchester’ could be making a return - albeit in a very, very different form - with a series of bizarre natural occurrences.

In just the past year alone, we have experienced intense flash flooding, thousands of dead fish floating in Salford Quays, and heatwaves in April. But what does it all mean?

Manchester has experienced hotter weather than Tenerife, and unusual species of jellyfish are rocking up on our shores in places like Blackpool - now scientists say we will only see more events like these as climate change gets more extreme.

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Climate change is nothing new, we've known all about its potential impacts and received warnings for decades, but often these problems seemed to be targeting far-off places - hurricanes in the USA, melting ice caps at the poles or wildfires in Australia. It's only in recent years that we have begun to see the very serious effect of more extreme weather conditions on our own home.

To get a further understanding of the situation here in Manchester, the M.E.N spoke with Dr Paul O’Hare, a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Development at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr O’Hare is also part of the Manchester Climate Change Agency and is taking a lead on a Manchester Climate Risk Resilience Project.

“There are definitely some weird things happening to our climate and the weather,” Dr O’Hare says. “The big caveat that anyone who works in climate change will say is that you can never say that one particular event is a direct