UK's Extreme Temperatures Will 'Cool Down' By End Of The Century

Experts believed that the very high temperatures being experienced last year in Great Britain would be deemed "average" by 2060, saying that these will also cool down by the end of the century.

(Photo : Pexels/Nicole Rathmayr)

According to the MET Office's national weather service, the temperatures breached 40 degrees Celsius in Great Britain in July of last year for the first time, with weather experts saying that 2022 was the "warmest year" since records began in 1884 for the United Kingdom and since 1659 when it comes to its Central England Temperature series.

Mike Kendon, who works from the MET Office's National Climate Information Center, told Reuters that 2022 was an extraordinary year for UK when it comes to the weather and the climate.

"The observations show that extremes of temperature are changing faster than the average, and as our climate warms, we expect far more high temperature records to be broken, potentially by wide margins, and far fewer low temperature records," Kendon said in the report.

Changing climate in UK

The MET Office said that studies and observations have shown that the UK temperature extremes are changing on a faster pace than the average temperature.

Weather experts have discovered that the record warm 2022 as well as the July heatwave were most probably brought by human-induced climate change.

They noticed a key feature of 2022 in which the year had remained to be persistently warm throughout the year.

It was evident that all months of the entire year, except December, were warmer when compared to the 1991 to 2020 average.

Kendon said that with the fast-changing temperatures, people should expect for a higher temperature records to be broken, potentially by wide margins, and far fewer low temperature records.

"UK climate projections show that even under a medium emissions scenario a year like 2022, currently the warmest year on record, could be the norm by the middle of the century and relatively cool by the end of the century," Kendon explained.

According to Kendon, the climate in the UK has a lot of year-to-year variability, but all in all, the year 2022 could be considered as a potential warning of the climate situation in the future.

Aside from the temperatures, 2022 was also deemed as the warmest year for UK near-coast sea-surface temperature (SST) in a series from 1870.

When it comes to rainfall, experts noted that 2022 was a relatively dry year overall.

They noted that January, March, April, July and August were all notably dry, particularly in areas across England and Wales.

Possible effects

The weather conditions observed last year has also resulted in extreme heat events becoming more frequent, intense, and prolonged.

In a report posted on The Independent, the Britain's National Rail said making sure of the resilience of the network amid the fast-changing climate situation could be considered as the biggest challenge for the railway system at this time.

This as according to experts, the infrastructure in Britain was not built to stood against the increasingly changeable and turbulent weather that the public has been experiencing at present times as most of the infrastructures were designed and established during the Victorian period.