Studies show the extreme conditions are human-induced climate change
Climate change is causing temperature extremes in the UK, including more frequent hot periods and an increase in rainfall, the country’s Met Office said on Thursday.
In its annual State of the Climate report, the weather service said 2023 was the second-hottest year on record.
The number of “hot days” when temperatures surpassed 28 degrees Celsius had increased “nearly everywhere” across the UK, it said.
Between 1961 and 1990, London and Hampshire in southeast England recorded six or more hot days on average every year.
But in the last decade from 2014-2023 many parts of the southeast had 12 days that reached the “hot day” threshold.
The report also found that the number of very hot days of more than 30C had tripled when comparing the two periods.
Analysis also “clearly shows an increase in the number of very wet days” in the most recent decade, at around 20 per cent more than in 1961-1990.
Lead author and Met Office climate scientist Mike Kendon said the new analysis “really shines a light on the fastest changing aspects of our weather as a consequence of climate change”.
Last year was “another year of interesting and at times significant weather”, he added.
The Met Office also conducted studies to determine the extent to which climate change was behind various extreme weather events in 2023, including record-breaking monthly temperatures in July.
They all found that human-induced climate change had made the extreme conditions “much more likely to happen than they would have been in a natural climate”, without the effects of man-made emissions.
“The new analysis of days that are classified as ‘hot’ or having ‘exceptional rainfall’ highlights the increased frequency in high impact extremes we are already experiencing in the UK,” said Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society.
“The attribution studies help to understand how human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are making these extreme events much more likely to happen as our climate continues to change,” she said.
A section of the report conducted by the National Oceanographic Centre also showed that sea levels had continued to rise.
Data taken from Newlyn near Penzance on England’s southwestern tip showed 2023 as the highest year on record for annual mean sea level.
Bentley said the report was “the authoritative annual summary of the UK climate”.
“It not only helps to highlight the latest knowledge on our changing climate but also enables us to understand the trends, risks and impacts to help inform how we will need to adapt, now and in the future,” she said.