How to track temperature change over the years

Times

3 days ago

If you wish to know current hourly temperatures across various weather stations in the UK then istheukhotrightnow.com is the website for you. By clicking on a temperature symbol you can see the latest reading and comparisons with the rest of the day, the month, the year and even historical readings going back decades. As for 'normal', this is the temperature taken at the same time of day and time of year averaged over a 30-year period, from 1991 to 2020. This is a striking way of showing how the country's climate is changing with rising temperatures — important benchmarks because it is easy to lose sight of how much hotter each place is becoming. The website, designed by Dan Harris and Ed Hawkins, was inspired by a similar idea in Australia.
Another vivid example of changing climate is Hawkins's use of 'climate stripes', with various shades of red for hot and blue for cold, representing the average temperature for a single year going back over nearly two centuries. The result is a powerful way of showing how the climate has warmed not just in the UK but also across every country in the world, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
As for this June in the UK, it comes as no surprise that it was hotter than normal, especially in the southeast and East Anglia, where last month's two heatwaves were concentrated. Many parts of the UK also suffered a severe lack of rain, with northeast, east, central and southeast England having particularly low rainfall after early June. The dry conditions followed six months with little rain that left many eastern and southern rivers with low levels of water. Reservoir storage has also declined across most areas after high demand in the hot weather, so it is no wonder that hosepipe bans may be coming shortly in Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Southern Water areas.