Leading meteorologists warn the hotter temperatures experienced in the UK this summer including the current heatwave are “entirely consistent” with climate change and could become common by the end of this century.
The Met Office's chief meteorologist, Paul Davies, told Sky News that the weather charts he saw on Monday morning were unmatched in anything he has seen in his 30-year career. Describing the heatwave data as "astounding", Mr Davies said it is a sure sign of the impact of climate change caused by human behaviour.
“This is entirely consistent with climate change. To get 40 degrees in the UK we need that additional boost from human-induced climate,” he said.
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“Well, I’ve been a meteorologist for about 30 years and I’ve never seen the charts I’ve seen today. And the speed at which we are seeing these exceptionally high temperatures is broadly in line with what we were saying but to be honest, as a meteorologist, to see the brutality of the heat we’re expecting tomorrow, is quite astounding.
Mr Davies said to expect more heatwaves over the course of this century, adding: “And it does worry me a lot and my colleagues here at the Met Office that this sort of unprecedented heat could become a regular occurrence by the end of the century.”
The chief executive of the Met Office said extreme temperatures like those England is experiencing remain “rare”. But by the year 2100 temperatures similar to those of the July heatwave could occur every three years, due to climate change.
Professor Penelope Endersby told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “These temperatures are unattainable in the UK without climate change, they just don’t appear in the ensembles at all.
“They’re still rare in today’s 1.1 – 1.2-degree warmed climate. But by 2100, we’re expecting them to be anywhere between one in 15 and one in three years, depending on the emissions pathways we take between now and then.”
She added: “We will certainly need to make changes to our infrastructure, transport, hospitals, care, homes, all those sorts of things, as well as to our domestic building designs. So yes, we need to make short-term changes for things like cooling centres and then longer-term changes, as well as assuming the very good progress we’ve already made as a nation towards net zero.”
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