New research led by the University of Oxford has found that climate change is causing the hottest days in North-West Europe to warm at double the rate of average summer days.
New research led by the University of Oxford has found that climate change is causing the hottest days in North-West Europe to warm at double the rate of average summer days. The difference in trends is most pronounced for England, Wales, and Northern France. Worryingly, while current climate models accurately predict the rate of warming for average days, they underestimate the rate at which the hottest days are warming compared to observations.
According to lead researcher Dr Matthew Patterson, from the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics, the results indicate that extreme heat events – such as the UK’s record-breaking heatwave last summer – are likely to become more regular. Dr Patterson said: ‘These findings underline the fact that the UK and neighbouring countries are already experiencing the effects of climate change, and that last year’s heatwave was not a fluke. Policy makers urgently need to adapt their infrastructure and health systems to cope with the impacts of higher temperatures.’
For the study, Dr Patterson analysed data from the past 60 years (1960-2021) recording the maximum daily temperature, provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
Read more at: University of Oxford
Time series of average summer (black) and maximum summer (red) daily maximum temperatures averaged over England and Wales, 1960-2021. Trend-lines are also shown for each time series. Image credit: Matthew Patterson, Department of Physics, University of Oxford. (Photo Credit: Matthew Patterson, Department of Physics, University of Oxford)
