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Check out these significant points from the Executive Summary of the State of the UK climate 2020 published by the Royal Meteorological Society.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The UK's climate is changing. Recent decades have been warmer, wetter and sunnier than the 20th century.
The year 2020 was third warmest, fifth wettest and eight sunniest on record for the UK. No other year has fallen in the top-10 for all three variables for the UK.
Land temperature
2020 was the third warmest year for the UK in a series from 1884, and also third warmest for Central England in a series from 1659.
All the top 10 warmest years for the UK in the series from 1884 have occurred since 2002.
The most recent decade (2011–2020) has been on average 0.5°C warmer than the 1981–2010 average and 1.1°C warmer than 1961–1990.
Air and ground frost
The most recent decade (2011–2020) has had 16% fewer days of air frost and 14% fewer days of ground frost compared to the 1981–2010 average, and 25%/20% fewer compared to 1961–1990.
Energy demand and growing conditions indices
The most recent decade (2011–2020) has had 6% fewer heating degree days per year on average compared to 1981–2010 and 12% fewer compared to 1961–1990.
Near-coast sea-surface temperature
The most recent decade (2011–2020) has been on average 0.3°C warmer than the 1981–2010 average and 0.7°C warmer than 1961–1990.
Nine of the 10 warmest years for near-coast SST for the UK have occurred since 2002.
Precipitation
Six of the 10 wettest years for the UK in a series from 1862 have occurred since 1998.
Since 2009, the UK has had its wettest February, April, June, November, December on record in monthly series from 1862—that is, five of 12 months—as well as the wettest winter on record.
For the most recent decade (2011–2020) UK summers have been on average 15% wetter than 1981–2010 and 17% wetter than 1961–1990. UK winters have been 11%/19% wetter.
Snow
Any snow during 2020 mainly affected upland and northern areas, and there were no major widespread snow events.
2020 was one of the least snowy years on record.
Sunshine
Spring 2020 was the UK's sunniest spring on record, and also sunnier than most UK summers. It included the sunniest April, and sunniest May, in series from 1919.
The most recent decade (2011–2020) has had for the UK on average 4% more hours of bright sunshine than the 1981–2010 average and 8% more than the 1961–1990 average.
For the most recent decade (2011–2020) UK winters have been 5% sunnier than 1981–2010 and 13% sunnier than 1961–1990. UK springs have been 11%/16% sunnier.
Wind
Ten named storms affected the UK in 2020.
Sea-level rise
Mean sea level around the UK has risen by approximately 1.5 mm·year−1 on average from the start of the 20th century, excluding the effect of vertical land movement, resulting in an overall rise of 16.5 cm over that period.
The rate of sea level rise has increased recently, exceeding 3 mm·year−1 for the period 1993–2019.
Significant weather
Severe and widespread flooding in February 2020, at least as severe as that of November 2019, was due to storms Ciara and Dennis, arriving only 1 week apart.
On 31st July, 37.8°C was recorded in Greater London making this the UK's third warmest day on record.
In early August, southern England experienced one of the most significant heatwaves of the last 60 years with a succession of days exceeding 34°C and ‘tropical’ nights exceeding 20°C.
On 16 August 2020, a rain-gauge in Norfolk recorded a daily total of 239.9 mm; the UK's highest daily total in August on record at an individual station.
3 October 2020 and 15 February 2020 were two of the three wettest days on record UK-wide in over 47,000 days from 1891. Remarkably, four of the 41 days in this series with a UK total exceeding 20 mm occurred in 2020.
In terms of wind gusts, Storms Ellen and Francis were two of the most notable August storms to affect the UK in the last 50 years.
Phenology
First leaf dates in 2020 were particularly early (on average 10.4 days earlier than the 1999–2019 baseline) for a range of common shrub/tree species, associated with mild conditions through January and February and some notable warmth and sunshine in April.
End of season bare tree dates in 2020 were also slightly earlier (on average 4.3 days earlier than the 1999–2019 baseline) for the same species.
Overall, the 2020 leaf-on season was extended by 6.2 days on average compared with the 1999–2019 baseline.