The UK has experienced more weather extremes over the last 10 years when compared to previous decades.
The hottest days have become hotter, warm spells have increased, while the coldest days are not as cold. The number of nights when temperatures stay above 20C is increasing. The Met Office says these changes are consistent with warming driven by human activities. Met Office scientists say that natural variability may be impacting the rainfall situation across the UK - but when it comes to temperatures, the researchers say it is warming driven by humans.
To illustrate just how mild temperatures have been over between 2008-17, the report says that a significant area inland from the UK coast had, on average, less than one day per year with temperatures below zero.
The hottest days have become hotter, warm spells have increased, while the coldest days are not as cold. The number of nights when temperatures stay above 20C is increasing. The Met Office says these changes are consistent with warming driven by human activities. Met Office scientists say that natural variability may be impacting the rainfall situation across the UK - but when it comes to temperatures, the researchers say it is warming driven by humans.
To illustrate just how mild temperatures have been over between 2008-17, the report says that a significant area inland from the UK coast had, on average, less than one day per year with temperatures below zero.
The Met Office expects to see more tropical nights as our climate continues to warm. These can be a big concern for elderly people.
"It's a particular concern, for the health impacts of heat waves are these tropical nights where the human body doesn't get respite from the heat," said Dr Mark McCarthy from the Met Office's National Climate Information Centre. "That is particularly so in large cities where it is further exacerbated by the urban heat island effect where the city will retain more of the heat of the day. Of those places where we do see tropical nights most frequently, London is one of those areas where it does occur. It could become a very important index in future."
"The temperature indicators are all consistent with the warming of the UK climate that we have observed over the last 50 years or so," said Dr McCarthy. "Certainly for the temperature-based indices such as the warm spell duration and the cold and high temperature indices, they are consistent with that well-known warming, and for the UK it's about the same rate of warming as has been seen globally."
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