Latest news with #InternationalJournalofClimatology
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
These Met Office maps show the UK areas where summers are getting hottest
The UK is breaking heat and rainfall records far more often as the country's climate continues to rise, according to a new Met Office report. The latest 'State of the UK Climate' report, published today in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, details the climate in 2024. It looks at how temperatures have changed over the long term, and highlights how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. Over the past decade, in some parts of the UK, the hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days, according to the report. The report shows how different parts of the country have borne the brunt of this shift in the climate. Here, Yahoo News has included maps showing where summers have been getting the hottest in the UK. The latest report shows a stark contrast between maximum annual temperatures between the first half of the 20th century and now – with a significant shift occurring from the 1990s and onwards. Below are a set of maps showing the average number of days per year in which the highest maximum temperature for each county of the UK has exceeded 28C. As shown above, the milestone was reached more often in the period of 1931 to 1960, compared to 1961 to 1990. The difference is particularly noticeable in the South and South East of England, although there was less change in London and Hampshire. In its report, the Met Office does note "some annual and decadal variability in the UK's climate in addition to the ongoing warming due to climate change". While the period from 1961 to 1990 was relatively period, with hotter days more persistent in the south of the country, the two maps below show a sharp uptick in temperatures from the 1990s. The period of 1991 to 2020 saw a substantial increase in days breaching the 28C milestone, again most notably in the South and South East. From 2015 to 2024, the change appears more extreme, with many parts of the South West, Wales, the Midlands and North experiencing an unprecedented number of 28C days since records began. To put this change into perspective, the UK's average highest maximum temperature over the most recent decade of 2015–2024 was 35.9C - 2.3C higher than 1991–2020 and 4.5C higher than 1961–1990. Explaining why this is happening, the report says climate change has a "much greater effect on the extremes of temperature than the mean". "Observations show that extreme weather events are to be expected each year as an integral part of the UK's climate. As has been fairly typical in recent years, floods and storms brought the worst impacts in 2024," it adds. Four of the five warmest summers on record for England have occurred since 2003, Met Office data shows, suggesting we are in a period of intensifying hot weather. All of the top 10 warmest years - according to mean temperature - have occurred since the year 2000. Research published by the Met Office in June warns that heatwaves in the UK "could become longer and hotter due to escalating climate trends". Temperatures hit 40C in the UK for the first time on record in July 2022, but scientists say the chance of exceeding this threshold has been "rapidly increasing". Senior Met Office scientist, Dr Gillian Kay, and lead author of last month's report, said the chance of this happening "is now over 20 times more likely than it was in the 1960s". "Because our climate continues to warm, we can expect the chance to keep rising. We estimate a 50-50 chance of seeing a 40C day again in the next 12 years. "We also found that temperatures several degrees higher than we saw in July 2022 are possible in today's climate." Heatwaves, where maximum temperature thresholds (set at different values across the country) persist for three consecutive days or more, are also likely to get longer, the study suggests. Senior Met Office science fellow and co-author of the report, Dr Nick Dunstone, said: "Our study finds that in today's climate such conditions could persist for a month or more. "These findings highlight the need to prepare and plan for the impacts of rising temperatures now, so we can better protect public health, infrastructure, and the environment from the growing threat of extreme heat." Map shows areas at risk of hosepipe ban as third region hit with restriction (Yahoo News) Scrap exams in June because of 'hot school halls', expert says (The Independent) Extreme heat could lead to 30,000 deaths a year in England and Wales by 2070s, say scientists (The Guardian)
Metro
14-07-2025
- Climate
- Metro
Graph shows how the UK's weather has shifted in just a few decades
The UK's climate has already changed, with extreme weather and record-breaking temperatures 'the new normal', a major new report has warned. Sea levels have risen faster than the global average, putting us more at risk from storm surges, while wild animals have shifted their routines, having their young earlier in the year. Every year, the Met Office – which gives us our weather forecasts – has a look back at what the weather was like overall in the previous calendar year, comparing it to trends before this too. If you think back to summer 2024, you probably remember a dismal lack of sunshine, and the term 'anticyclonic gloom' suddenly becoming a phrase people threw around in small talk. It was a gloomy year without much chance to get the kind of sunburn too many of us have today, after a heatwave weekend. But the report foud that overall, the chances of hot days have shifted significantly, while cold days became less likely. The UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25 ° C a decade and is now about 1.24 ° C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. According to the state of the UK climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, 'baselines are shifting' so records broken for heat and rainfall should not be surprising. Met Office experts say the UK's climate is 'notably different' from just a few decades ago. Although 2024 had a notoriously rubbish summer in terms of sunny days, it was still the fourth warmest year in records dating back to 1884. It's not alone: the last three years have all been in the UK's top five warmest on record. 'The hottest days we experience in the UK have increased in frequency dramatically in just a few decades,' experts warned. 'At the same time, the frequency of the coldest nights we experience has also dropped dramatically.' Rainfall is also on the increase, which combined with higher sea levels could mean we need to invest more in sandbags. For 2015-2024 the winter half-year was 16% wetter than the average for 1961-1990. It's not just a question of how hot or cold it will be. Even animals are changing their behaviour and life cycles. According to the report, last year frogspawn appeared and blackbirds nested at the earliest times in the period measured since 1999, while trees also held onto their trees for longer. While we would never begrudge people some happiness at 'hotter than Barcelona' headlines, as an overall trend the increased heat is a problem. We're not equipped for hot summers, with few homes with air conditioning, deaths spiking in heatwaves, and water supplies threatened by dry springs and summers. Only today, Thames Water expanded a hosepipe ban to millions of people who won't even be able to fill up a paddling pool for kids in the heat. The potential for flash flooding has also been brought home by deadly events in Texas and Valencia recently, with experts warning London is also vulnerable. Changes to phenology (seasonal events in nature, like birds nesting or flowers blooming) could have knock-on effects on ecosystems. And a 'false' spring of warm weather very early in the season can put wildlife at risk of consistent warmer temperatures do not follow. The Energy Secretary called the report's findings 'a stark warning' to take action on climate and nature. More Trending 'Our British way of life is under threat,' Mr Miliband said. 'Whether it is extreme heat, droughts, flooding, we can see it actually with our own eyes, that it's already happening, and we need to act. 'That's why the Government has a central mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and tackle the climate crisis.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: End of UK heatwave is in sight with cooler temperatures on the way MORE: Is it safe to travel to Spain? Latest advice after holiday hotspots left underwater by floods MORE: Family pay tribute to 'handsome, funny' teen who drowned in heatwave
Scotsman
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
Miliband says UK's way of life ‘under threat' amid extremes of heat and rainfall
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire The Energy Secretary called the findings 'a stark warning' to take action on climate and nature Sign up to our Scotsman Rural News - A weekly of the Hay's Way tour of Scotland emailed direct to you. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain's way of life is 'under threat' from climate change as the Met Office said extremes of heat and rainfall are becoming the norm. The latest state of the UK climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, shows the impact of human-caused global warming on the UK's weather, seas, people and wildlife. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad From earlier spring events in nature to record warm periods in 2024, which have already been beaten again this year, Met Office experts say the UK's climate is 'notably different' from just a few decades ago. The report details the climate in 2024, and over the longer term, highlighting how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. For the first time, the report also found UK sea levels to be rising faster than the global average. The Energy Secretary called the findings 'a stark warning' to take action on climate and nature. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Our British way of life is under threat,' Mr Miliband said. 'Whether it is extreme heat, droughts, flooding, we can see it actually with our own eyes, that it's already happening, and we need to act. 'That's why the Government has a central mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and tackle the climate crisis.' He added: '(U)nless, we act on the cause of what is happening, the cause of what is changing our climate, then we will be betraying future generations.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He spoke during a visit to a project restoring a rare alkaline fen at Hinksey Heights, Oxfordshire, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed, ahead of the report's release. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire Conservationists told the ministers how the fen, which is part of a national effort to expand the country's best freshwater habitats, was helping to boost wetland biodiversity and sequester planet-heating carbon in the atmosphere. Responding to the report, Mr Reed said it 'lays absolutely bare the damaging impact of climate change on people living in this country'. But he said that through projects like the fen, 'we're tackling the problem of nature loss and also we're tackling the problem of climate change at the same time'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One year in, Labour has been fiercely criticised over its approach to the environment, including concerns around planning reforms sidelining nature in pursuit of growth. The Environment Secretary defended the Government's actions, pointing to boosting funding for sustainable farming and developing the nature restoration fund so that money from house builders goes towards more impactful landscape-scale projects. 'We'd become one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth,' he said. 'This Government is calling time on that decline.' Elsewhere, the report said that the last three years have been in the top five warmest on record for the UK. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Last year was the fourth warmest in records dating back to 1884, while the year had the warmest May and warmest spring on record – already beaten by 2025's record hot spring. But Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the report, said: 'It's the extremes of temperature and rainfall that is changing the most, and that's of profound concern, and that's going to continue in the future.' The hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days have in the past decade in some parts of the UK, according to new analysis in the report. And as the UK's climate warms, it is also getting wetter, with extremes of rainfall, floods and storms in 2024, as in recent years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad England and Wales had the wettest winter from October 2023 to March 2024 on record in more than 250 years, as floods hit eastern Scotland, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the West Midlands. But while red warnings were issued for storm Isha in January and storm Darragh in December, observations do not currently suggest the UK is becoming stormier or windier. Overall, however, the country's weather is changing because of rising greenhouse gases pushing up global temperature, Mr Kendon said, with records being broken 'very frequently'. 'Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on,' he said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago.' The report also said tide gauge records since the 1900s show sea level rise around the UK is speeding up, with two-thirds of the rise of that time taking place in just the last three decades. Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, from the National Oceanography Centre, said the UK's coasts would start to see more events where rising sea levels combined with high tides would lead to coastal inundation, even without storms. 'This extra sea level rise contribution is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards,' she said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To highlight the impact of the UK's warming climate on wildlife, the report drew on Nature's Calendar, a volunteer-fed database of the natural signs of the changing seasons managed by the Woodland Trust. Records for 2024 show that spring was earlier than average for 12 of the 13 spring events monitored, and the earliest in the data running back to 1999 for frogspawn appearing and blackbirds nesting. The period of the year in which leaves were on trees from spring to autumn was also longer than average, mostly because of the earlier spring in 2024.
North Wales Chronicle
14-07-2025
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Miliband says UK's way of life ‘under threat' amid extremes of heat and rainfall
The latest state of the UK climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, shows the impact of human-caused global warming on the UK's weather, seas, people and wildlife. From earlier spring events in nature to record warm periods in 2024, which have already been beaten again this year, Met Office experts say the UK's climate is 'notably different' from just a few decades ago. The report details the climate in 2024, and over the longer term, highlighting how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. For the first time, the report also found UK sea levels to be rising faster than the global average. The Energy Secretary called the findings 'a stark warning' to take action on climate and nature. 'Our British way of life is under threat,' Mr Miliband told the PA news agency. 'Whether it is extreme heat, droughts, flooding, we can see it actually with our own eyes, that it's already happening, and we need to act. 'That's why the Government has a central mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and tackle the climate crisis.' On those who oppose Labour's green policies, he said: '(U)nless, we act on the cause of what is happening, the cause of what is changing our climate, then we will be betraying future generations.' He spoke during a visit to a project restoring a rare alkaline fen at Hinksey Heights, Oxfordshire, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed, ahead of the report's release. Conservationists told the ministers how the fen, which is part of a national effort to expand the country's best freshwater habitats, was helping to boost wetland biodiversity and sequester planet-heating carbon in the atmosphere. Responding to the report, Mr Reed told PA it 'lays absolutely bare the damaging impact of climate change on people living in this country'. But he said that through projects like the fen, 'we're tackling the problem of nature loss and also we're tackling the problem of climate change at the same time'. One year in, Labour has been fiercely criticised over its approach to the environment, including concerns around planning reforms sidelining nature in pursuit of growth. The Environment Secretary defended the Government's actions, pointing to boosting funding for sustainable farming and developing the nature restoration fund so that money from house builders goes towards more impactful landscape-scale projects. 'We'd become one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth,' he said. 'This Government is calling time on that decline.' Elsewhere, the report said that the last three years have been in the top five warmest on record for the UK. Last year was the fourth warmest in records dating back to 1884, while the year had the warmest May and warmest spring on record – already beaten by 2025's record hot spring. But Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the report, said: 'It's the extremes of temperature and rainfall that is changing the most, and that's of profound concern, and that's going to continue in the future.' The hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days have in the past decade in some parts of the UK, according to new analysis in the report. And as the UK's climate warms, it is also getting wetter, with extremes of rainfall, floods and storms in 2024, as in recent years. England and Wales had the wettest winter from October 2023 to March 2024 on record in more than 250 years, as floods hit Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and eastern Scotland. But while red warnings were issued for storm Isha in January and storm Darragh in December, observations do not currently suggest the UK is becoming stormier or windier. Overall, however, the country's weather is changing because of rising greenhouse gases pushing up global temperature, Mr Kendon said, with records being broken 'very frequently'. 'Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on,' he said. 'Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago.' The report also said tide gauge records since the 1900s show sea level rise around the UK is speeding up, with two-thirds of the rise of that time taking place in just the last three decades. Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, from the National Oceanography Centre, said the UK's coasts would start to see more events where rising sea levels combined with high tides would lead to coastal inundation, even without storms. 'This extra sea level rise contribution is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards,' she said. To highlight the impact of the UK's warming climate on wildlife, the report drew on Nature's Calendar, a volunteer-fed database of the natural signs of the changing seasons managed by the Woodland Trust. Records for 2024 show that spring was earlier than average for 12 of the 13 spring events monitored, and the earliest in the data running back to 1999 for frogspawn appearing and blackbirds nesting. The period of the year in which leaves were on trees from spring to autumn was also longer than average, mostly because of the earlier spring in 2024. Chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Liz Bentley, said the report reinforced the 'clear and urgent signals of our changing climate'.
South Wales Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Miliband says UK's way of life ‘under threat' amid extremes of heat and rainfall
The latest state of the UK climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, shows the impact of human-caused global warming on the UK's weather, seas, people and wildlife. From earlier spring events in nature to record warm periods in 2024, which have already been beaten again this year, Met Office experts say the UK's climate is 'notably different' from just a few decades ago. The report details the climate in 2024, and over the longer term, highlighting how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. For the first time, the report also found UK sea levels to be rising faster than the global average. The Energy Secretary called the findings 'a stark warning' to take action on climate and nature. 'Our British way of life is under threat,' Mr Miliband told the PA news agency. 'Whether it is extreme heat, droughts, flooding, we can see it actually with our own eyes, that it's already happening, and we need to act. 'That's why the Government has a central mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and tackle the climate crisis.' On those who oppose Labour's green policies, he said: '(U)nless, we act on the cause of what is happening, the cause of what is changing our climate, then we will be betraying future generations.' He spoke during a visit to a project restoring a rare alkaline fen at Hinksey Heights, Oxfordshire, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed, ahead of the report's release. Conservationists told the ministers how the fen, which is part of a national effort to expand the country's best freshwater habitats, was helping to boost wetland biodiversity and sequester planet-heating carbon in the atmosphere. Responding to the report, Mr Reed told PA it 'lays absolutely bare the damaging impact of climate change on people living in this country'. But he said that through projects like the fen, 'we're tackling the problem of nature loss and also we're tackling the problem of climate change at the same time'. One year in, Labour has been fiercely criticised over its approach to the environment, including concerns around planning reforms sidelining nature in pursuit of growth. The Environment Secretary defended the Government's actions, pointing to boosting funding for sustainable farming and developing the nature restoration fund so that money from house builders goes towards more impactful landscape-scale projects. 'We'd become one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth,' he said. 'This Government is calling time on that decline.' Elsewhere, the report said that the last three years have been in the top five warmest on record for the UK. Last year was the fourth warmest in records dating back to 1884, while the year had the warmest May and warmest spring on record – already beaten by 2025's record hot spring. But Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the report, said: 'It's the extremes of temperature and rainfall that is changing the most, and that's of profound concern, and that's going to continue in the future.' The hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days have in the past decade in some parts of the UK, according to new analysis in the report. And as the UK's climate warms, it is also getting wetter, with extremes of rainfall, floods and storms in 2024, as in recent years. England and Wales had the wettest winter from October 2023 to March 2024 on record in more than 250 years, as floods hit Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and eastern Scotland. But while red warnings were issued for storm Isha in January and storm Darragh in December, observations do not currently suggest the UK is becoming stormier or windier. Overall, however, the country's weather is changing because of rising greenhouse gases pushing up global temperature, Mr Kendon said, with records being broken 'very frequently'. 'Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on,' he said. 'Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago.' The report also said tide gauge records since the 1900s show sea level rise around the UK is speeding up, with two-thirds of the rise of that time taking place in just the last three decades. Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, from the National Oceanography Centre, said the UK's coasts would start to see more events where rising sea levels combined with high tides would lead to coastal inundation, even without storms. 'This extra sea level rise contribution is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards,' she said. To highlight the impact of the UK's warming climate on wildlife, the report drew on Nature's Calendar, a volunteer-fed database of the natural signs of the changing seasons managed by the Woodland Trust. Records for 2024 show that spring was earlier than average for 12 of the 13 spring events monitored, and the earliest in the data running back to 1999 for frogspawn appearing and blackbirds nesting. The period of the year in which leaves were on trees from spring to autumn was also longer than average, mostly because of the earlier spring in 2024. Chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Liz Bentley, said the report reinforced the 'clear and urgent signals of our changing climate'.
