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The United Kingdom's national weather service, Met Office, said on Thursday that 2022 was the hottest year on record for the country, with average annual temperatures exceeding 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time.
"The full annual UK mean temperature data for 2022 resulted in a provisional figure of 10.03C, the highest in records dating back to 1884. This made the year 0.89C above the 1991-2020 average and 0.15C higher than the previous record of 9.88C set in 2014," the agency said in a press statement posted on its website. During the summer of 2022, the UK faced an abnormal heat wave. On July 19, the temperature in the country broke the 2014 record of 38.7 degrees Celsius and reached 40.3 degrees Celsius. However, winter had an anomalously cold start in December, with temperatures dropping to the 12-year low of -17.3 degrees Celsius. Scientists have repeatedly stated that climate change and the greenhouse effect are largely responsible for longer and hotter summers in Europe. Met Office Climate Attribution Scientist, Dr Nikos Christidis, said: "To assess the impact of human induced climate change on the record-breaking year of 2022, we used climate models to compare the likelihood of a UK mean temperature of 10C in both the current climate and with historical human climate influences removed. The results showed that recording 10C in a natural climate would occur around once every 500 years, whereas in our current climate it could be as frequently as once every three to four years. "We also used climate models to project how often this sort of temperature could be recorded in the future. It was possible to calculate that by the end of the century, under a medium emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5), a UK average temperature of 10C could occur almost every year." Head of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, Dr Mark McCarthy, said this moment comes as no surprise, since 1884 all the ten years recording the highest annual temperature have occurred from 2003. Dr McCarthy explains: "Even with the influence of climate change we don't expect every year to be the hottest on record from now on. Natural variability of the UK climate means there will always be some variation year to year, however looking at longer term trends it is easy to pick out the influence climate change is having over time." According to the UK Met office, the evidence of the UK's changing climate can also be seen in the distribution of hot and cold annual records. Since 1884, all the ten warmest years have occurred from 2003, the agency added. (ANI)
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