Number of UK weather records is increasing

It’s a feeling that many meteorologists like myself have had for some time, that breaking weather records seems to be becoming more and more common.

I’ve not had anything to back this up other than a gut feeling, but new analysis by the Met Office suggests that the number of weather records being established across the UK is indeed increasing.

The article in this month’s Royal Meteorological Society magazine Weather primarily looks at the modern data set which extends back to 1910.

The work uses a scoring system to give more weight to the more significant records.

The main findings are quite striking:

TEMPERATURE RECORDS

Since 2000, there have been 10 times as many hot records (204) as cold records (20)

The period since 2000 accounts for two thirds of all hot record scores; but only 3% of the cold record scores.

70% of the cold record scores are in three decades; 1910s, 1920s and 1960s

These hot records are replicated in the CET data set too, which dates back to 1659.

RAINFALL RECORDS

Since 2000 there have been 10 times as many wet records (106) as dry records (11)

The period since 2000 accounts for 45% of all wet record scores.

The 1910s also saw a clustering of wet records.

By contrast, dry record scores remain steady throughout until a pronounced reduction from 2000 onwards.

The period since 2000 accounts for only 2% of the dry record scores.

If you are interested in reading this article in full, then click HERE

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