Global warming shows it's hand in the UK by Sean Batty
Scientists at the Met Office HQ in Exeter have revealed that this year’s extended summer (May-September) period has been the warmest on record.
The temperatures are based on the long standing CET (Central England Temperature), which is the average temperature reading that has been observed within a triangular region enclosed by Bristol, Lancashire and London since 1659.
The mean CET temperature of 16.2 °C (61.2F) for the period was 2 °C warmer than the average for 1961-1990. The previous record of 15.9 °C (60.6F) was set in 1947. The 2006 period included the warmest month ever, July, and a record temperature for September.
In addition to the CET, more detailed statistics for the last 93 years (1914-2006) show that May to September was the warmest for all areas of the country. During the period from the 9th to the 15th October Scotland recorded an average temperature of 12.4C (54.3F), well above last years value for the same period of 8.5C (47.3F).
Their research showed the recent rapid warming of the CET is almost certainly due to human influence - the first time this has been rigorously identified on such a small geographic scale. The evidence for global warming is piling up and a Met Office spokesman said: “Greenhouse gases are really playing their part and the global warming jigsaw is really fitting into place”.
Early forecasts from the Met Office, in July, for Winter 2006/7 across the UK indicated near-average temperatures and an approximately even chance of wetter or drier-than-average conditions for the season as a whole.
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