2022 will be UK's warmest year ever: Check alarming stats
UK's Meteorological Office has revealed that 2022 will be the warmest year on record for the country. As per the provisional report, every month except December, was hotter than average. It is also predicted that the annual average temperature will exceed the previous record set in 2014, which was 9.88 degrees Celsius. The exact average temperature will be confirmed next year.
Why does this story matter?
While the official figures are yet to be released, it is evident from the soaring temperatures that climate change does have serious implications. The report highlights that all four seasons in 2022 have fallen "in the top ten in a series which began in 1884 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 2003."
The provisional figures will be subjected to further verification process
2022 has set a new annual mean temperature record in 139 years. It is also the warmest year on record in the 364-year-old Central England temperature series from 1659, which is the world's longest instrumental record of temperature. The final provisional figure for 2022 will be revealed at the year's end and it will be subjected to further quality control and a verification process.
Climate change increased the chances of warmer temperatures
"The warm year [2022] is in line with the genuine impacts we expect as a result of human-induced climate change," said Mark McCarthy, a senior climate scientist at Met Office. "Although it doesn't mean every year will be the warmest on record, climate change continues to increase the chances of increasingly warm years over the coming decades," he added.
The summer temperatures in the UK exceeded 40 degrees Celsius
UK experienced its fourth warmest summer in 2022. The temperatures crossed 40 degrees Celsius for the first time as Coningsby clocked 40.3 degrees Celsius, which is 1.6 degrees Celsius more than the previous record. Scotland and Wales recorded a new daily maximum temperature of 34.8 and 37.1 degrees Celsius, respectively. In July, a red alert for warm weather was issued for the first time.
The autumn season was the third warmest in the UK
The summer was also the tenth driest for the UK and an official drought was declared in large parts of England in August while autumn was the third warmest. The first two weeks of December were the coldest in the UK since 2010. The country has already seen 9% more sunshine hours this month than the average for the whole of the year.
