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Met Office: Extreme Weather the UK's New Normal
UNITED KINGDOM, JUL 12 – UK's climate has warmed 1.24°C since 1961-1990, with extreme heat and rainfall events becoming more frequent, according to the Met Office's latest State of the UK Climate report.
- Amid the UK’s third heatwave this summer, the Met Office warns that extreme weather, including severe droughts and heavy rainfall, is now becoming the norm across multiple regions.
- Analysis of Met Office data shows the UK has warmed 0.25°C per decade, 1.24°C since 1961–1990, attributed to greenhouse gas emissions.
- In 2024, the UK experienced its second warmest February, warmest May and spring, with winter rainfall over the last decade 16% above the 1961–1990 average, driven by long-term warming.
- Since Yorkshire and the northwest entered drought in June, the National Drought Group plans to consider adding more regions at its upcoming meeting.
- The National Oceanography Centre warns that rising sea levels, now faster than the global average, will cause more coastal inundation even without storms, intensifying hazards.
51 Articles
51 Articles
Variability conceals emerging trend in 100yr projections of UK local hourly rainfall extremes
Extreme precipitation is projected to intensify with warming, but how this will manifest locally through time is uncertain. Here, we exploit an ensemble of convection-permitting transient simulations to examine the emerging signal in local hourly rainfall extremes over 100-years. We show rainfall events in the UK exceeding 20 mm/h that can cause flash floods are 4-times as frequent by 2070s under high emissions; in contrast, a coarser resolution…
UK scientists warn rising temperatures and rainfall now define the country's climate
Extreme heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and rising seas have become standard across the UK, according to a major new analysis of the nation's weather and climate records.Damian Carrington reports for The Guardian.In short:Scientists say days that are 10°C warmer than the 1961–1990 average have quadrupled in the past decade, while intense rainfall has surged, with months of double-average precipitation rising by 50% over 20 years.Sea levels around the…
As Britons breathe a sigh of relief after the third heatwave of 2025 subsides, many are wondering whether this period of extreme weather is the “new normal” under climate change. Published this morning, the Met Office’s annual climate assessment report confirms this: baselines are shifting, records are being broken more frequently and extreme heat and rainfall are “becoming the norm”, reports the Telegraph. The last three years have been the hot…
UK extreme weather ‘becoming the norm’, warns Met Office
Heatwaves have led to 10,000 excess deaths in England over the last four years, the Energy Secretary has told MPs. Ed Miliband said extreme weather was already having an impact on our way of life, and it’s a claim backed up by a new Met Office report which says the kind of scorching temperatures we saw at the weekend are becoming the new normal – and along with it, more frequent extreme events like drought, flash flooding and storms.
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