Climate change in the UK is happening faster than the global average, say the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and the Grantham Research Institute
Their new report has analysed Met Office data and found that average temperatures in the UK rose by 0.18°C each decade from 1950. This compares with a global average surface temperature rise of 0.12°C, which was highlighted in the IPCC report last month.
The analysis also shows that the seven warmest years in the UK since records began in 1910 have all occurred from 2000 onwards. Overall the UK average annual temperature increased by about 0.59°C between 1910-1939 and 1983-2012.UK annual rainfall has been increasing since about 1970, with 6 of the 10 wettest years on record all occurring within the last 15 years. 2012 was the second wettest year on record, with flooding in many parts of the UK during 2012.The new report also picks other interesting summary information from the IPCC report and the Met Office. The frequency or intensity of heavy rainfall has increased in large parts of Europe. A Met Office study of the long-term averages of 30-year periods showed an increase in annual UK rainfall of about 5 per cent between 1961-1990 and 1981-2010. And Met Office records suggest that 1-in-100-day extreme rainfall events may have become more frequent since 1960.
The headline finding is interesting, because future projections suggest that the UK may be subject to more benign climate change than our neighbours on the mainland. So we’ll have to find out more about the context of our rate of temperature rise, and watch carefully how things develop.