The Berkeley group does depart from the "orthodox" picture of climate science in its depiction of short-term variability in the global temperature.

BBC: Global warming 'confirmed' by independent study

The programme aims to maintain a network of at least 3, 000 Argo floats, over all ocean areas without ice-cover, to study ocean variability in the long term.

UNESCO: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

If peak acidities rather than long-term averages are what matters most, natural variability could make things worse.

ECONOMIST: Ocean acidification

And while businesses should never try and encourage addiction, the fact is that like slots, technology products with finite variability do not form long-term habits in most users.

FORBES: Where Have All The Users Gone?

"Longer term we will see a trend to drier summers but superimposed on that we will always see natural variability, " she said.

BBC: UK experiences 'weirdest' weather