As we near the end of 2003, the figures are beginning to come in which give us an overview of the past year.

The Met Office recently issued a press release stating that 2003 was the fifth warmest year on record in Britain. The fact that it is only the fifth warmest may actually come as a surprise to some, given that it was the year which saw record-breaking temperatures in the summer.

Records go back to 1659, and since then there have only been four warmer years than the one we have just had - three of those have occurred since 1990 though, indicating that global warming appears to be having a significant effect in the UK.

The World Meteorological Organisation has also issued figures for 2003 which state that globally, 2003 was the third warmest year on record. They have also announced that this rise in global temperatures helped to generate exceptional drought, floods, hurricanes and typhoons.

It has indeed been a very active year for certain weather phenomena and in a separate report, a Swiss insurer has claimed that natural disasters caused around 65 billion dollars worth of damage this year.

Some of the major disasters this year include a record series of 400 tornadoes across the USA in May, massive bushfires in Australia in January and floods in China. In addition to this, there were many unusual weather effects including record rainfall in the Sahel, the European heat wave, extremes of cold weather in parts of Asia and a greater than average number of typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes.

As population pressure increases, particularly in parts of the world that are exposed to extreme weather conditions, it certainly looks as though global warming will remain a hot topic for many years to come.

Related Links :
BBC - Climate Change

Weather News from the last five days:
16/12/2003
15/12/2003
14/12/2003
13/12/2003
12/12/2003

Click here for the Review of the Day