Extreme weather becoming the norm as warning UK's way of life is ‘under threat'

Wales Online

6 hours ago

Extreme weather becoming the norm as warning UK's way of life is 'under threat'
The Met Office is warning that we are continuously breaking heat and rainfall records, and this is how it is affecting the nation
Global warming is affecting our climate, meaning more heatwaves, more floods, and colder winters
(Image: Ian Cooper/North Wales Live )
The Met Office has warned of our climate warming as the UK is increasingly breaking heat and rainfall records, putting our way of life "under threat".
If you've been thinking the weather in the UK feels a bit different in recent years, you're not imagining things. According to the Met Office, we are breaking heat and rainfall records more often - and it's all because of the UK's steadily warming climate. Their latest State of the UK Climate report says our weather now looks pretty different from just a few decades ago.
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We're seeing way more really hot days and far fewer super cold nights. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
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This shift is being driven by global warming, mostly caused by the greenhouse gases we humans keep pumping into the atmosphere. And it's not just about hotter summers - it's also bringing more extreme weather like storms, floods, and droughts.
Unsurprisingly, this has serious consequences for wildlife too.
2024 was a hot one - and 2025's already breaking records
Last year, the UK saw some wild temperature records:
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Second warmest February
Warmest May and spring
Fifth warmest December and winter
And now, in 2025, some of those records have already been broken. We have just experienced the third heatwave this summer, and it is only July.
Yorkshire was hit with the first hosepipe ban of the year after the hottest June on record, which followed the sunniest and driest spring the UK's had in over 130 years. That heat and dryness led to parts of Yorkshire and northwest England being officially declared in drought.
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The number of days with temperatures 5°C above the 1961-1990 average has doubled for the most recent decade 2015-2024 compared to 1961-1990.
For 8°C above average the number has trebled and for 10°C it has quadrupled - this shows how the hottest days we experience in the UK have increased in frequency dramatically in just a few decades.
At the same time, the frequency of the coldest nights we experience has also dropped dramatically.
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Met Office Climate Scientist and Lead Author of the State of the UK Climate report, Mike Kendon, said: 'Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on.
"Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago.
"We are now seeing records being broken very frequently as we see temperature and rainfall extremes being the most affected by our changing climate.
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'This pace of change and clustering of consecutive records is not a natural variation in our climate.
"Numerous studies have shown how human emissions of greenhouse gasses are warming the atmosphere and changing the weather we experience on the ground.
"Our climate in the UK is now different to what it was just a few decades ago, this is clear from our observations."
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But it's not just about heat. The UK's also getting wetter - especially in winter. Between 2015 and 2024, the country saw 16% more rainfall from October to March compared to 1961-1990.
Global temperatures have risen over 1.3°C since the Industrial Revolution, and the UK is warming at about 0.25°C per decade. That might not sound like much, but it's enough to seriously increase the risk of extreme weather - like massive storms or floods.
When comparing the most recent decade 2015-2024 to 1961-1990, the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights have warmed around twice as much as average summer days and winter nights have in some parts of the UK.
(Image: Met Office )
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The Central England Temperature record (the world's longest-running weather record) backs this up, showing that recent temperatures blow past anything from the last 300+ years.
In fact, the last three years were all among the top five warmest years in the UK since 1884. 2024 was the fourth warmest on record.
So what happens when temperatures rise, even a little? Well, extreme weather events that used to be rare become way more common. Those 'once-in-a-decade' heatwaves or floods? They're now 'every other summer' events.
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The UK is also seeing way fewer cold days. In the past 10 years, there were 14 fewer frost days each year compared to the 1931–1990 average.
Floods are a growing problem
As in previous years, flooding and storms were the UK's most damaging weather events in 2024.
A string of named storms that started in late 2023 led to massive flooding in early January. That made it the UK's wettest October-to-March stretch in over 250 years.
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Flooding hit eastern Scotland, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the West Midlands particularly hard — some places got three to four times their normal September rainfall.
Even the Royal Shakespeare Company had to cancel performances in Stratford-upon-Avon because of flooding. In Worcestershire, a wall collapsed after water levels rose too fast.
Professor Stephen Belcher, the Met Office's chief scientist, says these events highlight why we need to get serious about preparing for future extremes. Sea levels around the UK are now rising faster than the global average, which means the flood risk will only get worse.
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Flooding is also being caused by rising sea levels. Tide gauge records since the 1900s provide observational evidence that sea level rise around the UK is accelerating, with two-thirds of the observed sea level rise over that period happening in just over the last three decades.
The UK sea level is rising faster than the global average. Looking at 2024 specifically, the most extreme sea levels were associated with Storm Kathleen in early April, which coincided with spring tides and was influenced by high background mean sea levels.
Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva from the National Oceanography Centre, said: 'The storm surge events the UK experienced in 2024 demonstrate the potential for the UK to be affected by coastal flooding. As sea levels continue to rise around the UK, this risk is only going to increase further.
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"The timing of storms relative to the spring-neap tidal cycle is critical, but, as we know from historical events, it is only a matter of time until the UK is next in the path of a major storm surge event.
"This extra sea level rise contribution is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards."
Nature's feeling the heat too
The UK's changing climate isn't just messing with our weather - it's also affecting the natural world.
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In spring 2024, frogspawn and nesting blackbirds both showed up earlier than ever. In fact, 12 of 13 spring events tracked were earlier than average.
This change in seasonal timing (called phenology) matters a lot. Animals like hedgehogs and dormice rely on certain seasonal cues to survive.
When it's too warm too early, fruits and nuts ripen too soon - and by autumn, there's not enough food left to help them fatten up for winter.
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Dr Judith Garforth from the Woodland Trust, said: 'Looking at the phenology data we can see examples of how nature is responding to both weather, in the short-term, and climate, in the long-term.
'For example, the particularly warm weather in February 2024 resulted in the earliest UK average frogspawn-sighting since the series began in 1999; but over the longer-term, hazel flowering, which can occur as early as December, is starting to show an advancing trend over the whole 26 years of the data series."