UK heatwaves lasting twice as long as 50 years ago – Met Office
By Jonathan Watts
Heatwaves in the UK are lasting twice as long as they did 50 years ago, ice days are disappearing and tropical nights are starting to occur as far north as Middlesbrough, according to a Met Office report.
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The new report shows that warm spells – when the maximum temperature is above the 90th percentile for the time of year – are becoming much more prolonged. From 1961 to 1990, the average longest warm spell each year was 5.3 days. From 2008 to 2017 this more than doubled to 13.2 days. This year, which is not included in these statistics, was even longer at 17 days.
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Tropical nights – when minimum nighttime temperatures remain above 20C – are being measured for the first time. They were almost unheard of until a couple of decades ago. Even the famous hot summer of 1976 never saw any of these nights, which are particularly gruelling for the elderly and infirm because they provide no respite from the heat. Since 1995 they have started to be recorded in London, Kent, the Isle of Wight and even occasionally in Wales and the north-east.
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[Mark McCarthy, the manager of the National Climate Information Centre] said he was most surprised that extremes of hot and cold were changing at different speeds. While the temperature on the hottest day of the year has risen roughly in line with the average annual rate of warming since 1961, the coldest day has warmed at twice that rate. In the 30 years until 1990, the bitterest winter night in the UK averaged -8.5C. From 2008 to 2017 it was -6.8C.
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