Heatwaves and droughts: it keeps getting hotter in the UK

British experts expect 2022 to be Britain’s warmest on record after a year of heatwaves and minimal rainfall.

Crowds flocked to Bournemouth beach in southern England during last summer’s heatwave. Picture: Getty Images

British experts expect 2022 to be Britain’s warmest on record after a year of heatwaves and minimal rainfall.

The findings come as communities across the globe reel from a catalogue of extreme weather this year including soaring temperatures and drought across Europe that saw crops wither and forest fires ravage swathes of land.

This year had the “highest annual average temperature across the UK, exceeding the previous record set in 2014 when the average was 9.88C”, the Met Office, Britain’s meteorological authority, said.

Since 1884 in the UK, each of the 10 years recording the highest annual temperature have occurred from 2002.

“2022 is going to be the warmest year on record for the UK. While many will remember the summer’s extreme heat, what has been noteworthy this year has been the relatively consistent heat through the year,” said Mark McCarthy from the Met Office.

Every month except December had been warmer than average.

“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,” Mr McCarthy said.

Most of England and Wales experienced drought this summer after exceptionally high temperatures and heatwaves, and little rainfall.

France also experienced the hottest year on record.

In July, England also smashed its temperature record when the mercury topped 40C for the first time, while July was the driest on record across the south.

Britain’s National Trust earlier on Wednesday said nature and wildlife at the charity’s sites had been harmed by extreme weather in the past year and warned it could become the “new normal”.

AFP