2006 - A year for the record books

Preliminary temperature figures for 2006, released by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia (UEA’s Climatic Research Unit), show the mean surface air temperature has continued to demonstrate a warming climate, both around the globe and especially in the UK.

Worldwide, the provisional figures for 2006 using data from January to November, place the year as the sixth warmest year on a record that stretches back to 1850. The top 10 warmest years have all occurred in the last 12 years and 2006 could have been even warmer but for a cool start to the year caused by La Nina.

The joint warmest years are currently 1990 and 1999, which recorded a mean temperature of 10.63 °C with just over two weeks to the end of the year. The current mean temperature anomaly to 12 December surpasses both and is equivalent to an annual temperature of 10.84 °C.

The figures support recent research from Prof David Karoly of the University of Oklahoma and Dr Peter Stott at the Met Office, which showed links between human behavior and the warming trend.

Met Office climate scientist David Parker goes on to explain: “2006 has been quite extraordinary in terms of the UK temperature, with several records being broken".

As a consequence of the rise in temperatures during 2006 the amount of sea ice seen in the arctic remains well below average, although it has recovered slightly from 2005's all-time minimum. In the southern hemisphere, sea-ice coverage remains close to average.

The full report on the climate of 2006 is available on the World Meteorological Organisation website along with information and graphics on land and sea surface temperature.