According to provisional data from the Met Office, the UK experienced its second warmest year on record in 2023. The country was just behind 2022 in terms of average temperature, which was only 0.06C higher. Wales and Northern Ireland also experienced their hottest year on record, with the national weather service citing climate change as a significant factor. Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said the observations are clear and high temperature records are toppling. While the weather varies, temperatures continue to increase across Britain.
The UK had the hottest June and joint hottest September on record last year, with temperatures exceeding 33C. The country has some of the longest temperature records in the world, with the Central England Temperature series monitored by the Met Office dating back to 1659. Rainfall increased by 11% nationwide, with numbers up more than 20% in Northern Ireland and England. Scientists anticipate increased temperatures in the summers and wetter winters due to climate change, with warmer air holding more moisture and producing greater amounts of rainfall.
Last year’s record temperatures were mirrored across the world, with international wildfires in Hawaii, Greece, and Tunisia, historically high sea temperatures in the Atlantic, a record wildfire season in Canada, and shrinking Antarctic sea-ice. In January, the Copernicus Climate Change Service is expected to verify that 2023 was the world’s hottest year. The average increase in temperature was likely caused by climate change and El Niño, a weather phenomenon in which Pacific winds weaken, allowing warm water to rise and spread heat into the atmosphere.
It’s uncertain how long the latest El Niño will last, but the prediction is that it will persist through 2024 making it the hottest year on record. If this threshold is crossed, it would mean the Earth is 1.5C warmer on average than in the late 1800s, when industrialisation led to a rapid rise in fossil fuel emissions. The 1.5C figure is prominent in global climate change efforts, with countries agreeing under the 2015 Paris agreement to limit temperature increases to this level
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