SCOTLAND is set to enjoy a one-day heatwave today with temperatures soaring to 29C in some parts before temperatures plunge again tomorrow.
The forecast has forced Glasgow City Council to block off Kelvingrove Park to anyone trying to bring in alcohol today while police will also monitor routes around Loch Lomond, which can become congested with day trippers.
Nicky Maxey, of the Met Office, said: “Let’s just say it will be a nice day. We will see 34C or 35C (93-95F) in some isolated spots in the south east of the UK but temperatures will not be just as high in Scotland.
“It will still be warm, though, and we are expecting 28C (82F) in Aviemore, Inverness and Glasgow and even a possible 29C (84F) in Edinburgh.”
It comes as last year saw a series of new high temperatures as climate change exerts “an increasing impact” on the UK, the Met Office has said.
The latest annual State of the UK Climate review compiled by the meteorological experts shows how the country continues to warm, with 2019’s average temperature 1.1C above long-term 1961-1990 levels.
The most recent decade has been 0.9C warmer across the UK than the 1961-1990 average, the report said.
Last year was most notable for breaking records, with the UK recording its hottest temperature ever as the mercury soared to 38.7C (101.7F) at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens on July 25.
That was not the only temperature high seen in 2019, with a new winter record of 21.2C (70.2F) set on February 26, at Kew Gardens in London,
the first time 20C has been reached
in the UK in a winter month.
There was also a new December record of 18.7C (65.7F) on the 28th of the month in Achfary, Sutherland.
A record for the mildest daily minimum temperature for February was set when temperatures did not dip below 13.9C (57F) in Achnagart in Inverness-shire on the 23rd.
No cold temperature records were
set last year, the report said.
The changing climate is also
bringing other extremes, with
flooding hitting parts of Lincolnshire
in mid-June, parts of the Pennines
and northern England in late July,
and South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire in November 2019.
All of the 10 warmest years in the UK in records dating back to 1884 have occurred since 2002, with 2019 coming in outside the top 10, in 12th place.
And the Central England Temperature series, the longest continuous temperature record in the world, which has data for an area of central England stretching back to 1659, provides evidence the 21st century so far has overall been warmer than the previous three centuries, the Met Office said.
Met Office lead author Mike Kendon said: “Our report shows climate change is exerting an increasing impact on the UK’s climate. This year was warmer than any other year in the UK between 1884 and 1990, and since 2002 we have seen the warmest 10 years in the series. By contrast, to find a year in the
coldest 10 we have to go back to 1963
– more than 50 years ago.”
The report includes data on the changing seasons in the natural world, gathered by the Woodland Trust’s Nature’s Calendar citizen science scheme.
It showed the dates for when a range of common shrubs and trees were particularly early in putting out their first leaves – on average 9.7 days earlier than the 1999-2018 baseline, as a result of relatively warm conditions in winter and early spring.
The point at which trees were bare of leaves again in autumn was also slightly later than average.
Darren Moorcroft, chief executive of the Woodland Trust, said: “In response to the warm winter and mild spring temperatures, the first leaves appeared on trees nearly 10 days earlier in 2019, compared to our baseline period.
“While this may not sound like much, research using these citizen science records has shown this can have dire impacts further down the food chain. This is a stark reminder of the need to take immediate action on climate change.”
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