About the Map
The Highland Weather & Climate Story Map collects your first-hand experiences of weather and climate impacts on the Highland region.
Across the region, we are already feeling the effects of the changing climate on our weather, our landscapes, and our communities. As part of our work to understand how climate change is affecting the Highland region, Highland Adapts is collecting stories from people who live, work, and visit here.
These stories will sit alongside other data and evidence, helping to paint a fuller picture of what’s happening here. Most importantly, they’ll help guide the actions we need to take together to build a more resilient Highland.
Between March 2023 and September 2024, we collected stories via Commonplace. We now collect stories via GreenMap. You can engage with and contribute to the map through the links below.
What is a weather or climate story?
Here in the Highlands, the weather (short-term atmospheric condition) usually changes multiple times a day. The climate (long-term weather patterns) is also changing, although it is not always as easy to see.
Climate change is causing more frequent extreme weather events (storms, heavy downpours, strong winds) and different weather patterns over time (average temperature increases, extended dry periods). The Highland Weather & Climate Story Map was designed to collect your stories about how both weather and climate impact you.
If it helps, think of a weather or climate story as having three parts: (1) place, (2) impact, and (3) details.
Place
- Home
- Settlement (town, village, hamlet, neighbourhood, etc.)
- Business or organisation
- Public facility or building (library, hospital, school, etc.)
- Historic Site (castle, cairn, lighthouse, etc.)
- Outdoor recreation space (play park, beach, woodland walk, etc.)
- Managed land (croft, farm, forestry, etc.)
- Transportation route (ferry, train, bus, car, bike, walking, etc.)
- Environmental feature (wetland, Caledonian forest, loch, etc.)
Impact
One-off events
- Transportation disruption
- Event cancellation
- Property damage
- Construction and repair delays
- Power outages
- Supply chain disruption
Changes over time
- Heat and energy costs
- Anxiety and stress
- Landscape change
- Insurance costs
- Tourism levels
- Livestock health
Details
The details of a story are only known to the people, communities, businesses, and ecosystems experiencing these impacts first-hand. Without these details, we don’t have a full picture. For example…
- When did this happen?
- What will you do differently?
- What did you learn?
- Who was impacted?
- What did you lose or gain?
- What did you change?
- How did you feel?
- What did you change?
- Why is this place important?
- What did it cost you?
Other Highland Adapts Projects
Climate Resilience Review for Strategic Documents
To achieve regional climate resilience, we need to embed resilience in strategies across all organisations, businesses, and groups in Highland. This can be daunting and challenging when you are already managing significant competing pressures on your time and resources. This year, Highland Adapts is piloting a peer support model to help strengthen climate change resilience in strategic documents (policies, plans, or strategies).
Highland Climate Change Risk & Opportunity Assessment (HCCROA)
Climate change risks in Highland are already significant and are expected to intensify over the coming decades. The HCCROA provides Highland’s first regional assessment of climate change risks and opportunities from the present day to the 2080s. It covers 50 risks and opportunities across five themes: land, nature, and food; health and wellbeing; community and economy; built environment; and infrastructure. The executive summary is available in English and Gaelic.
Highland Climate Change Economic Impact Assessment
Climate change will have potentially significant negative impacts on the Highland region equivalent to around -1.5% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a year by the 2050s, rising to up to -3.3% a year by the 2080s. Our economic assessment provides the first Highland-specific regional economic analysis for climate change impacts. It also includes three sector reports: forestry and timber, energy, and food and drink.
Circular Economy Practices for Climate-Resilient Supply Chains
The Highland food and drink sector is on the frontline of climate change, facing increasing risks from extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and shifting market dynamics. This report focuses on the role circular economy practices (like retaining resource value and shortening supply chains) can play in strengthening climate resilience across the sector. The report identifies key barriers, local case studies, and opportunities for systemic change.
Highland Charter for Climate, Nature, and Health
The Highland Charter for Climate, Nature, and Health is a pledge to put climate, nature, and the benefits of green and blue health at the centre of decision-making and action, so that the natural environment and people have improved health, wellbeing, and resilience. The aim of the charter is to raise awareness of climate change, to build momentum across the region, and to celebrate the work that individuals, communities, organisations, and businesses are doing in Highland.