The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Summers of the future ‘threat to human health’
St Andrews University lecturer says drastic action needed against crisis
Having record-breaking summers will become a certainty due to climate change, experts have warned, as the UK sweltered in what is anticipated to have been the hottest day of the year so far.
Just a week after Britain recorded the third-warmest day on record on July 31, with 37.8C (100.04F) recorded in Heathrow, yesterday temperatures reached 36.4C in Heathrow and Kew Gardens, making it the hottest August day since 2003.
Michael Byrne, lecturer in earth and environmental sciences at St Andrews University, warned two near-record temperatures so closely spaced is “unusual”.
“But it’s not surprising given climate change is happening and accelerating,” he told the PA news agency.
“Breaking temperature records yearon-year will absolutely keep happening, unless we take drastic action against climate change, that’s a certainty.”
The Met Office revealed in its latest report covering the climate of the UK, published on July 31, that the most recent decade has been on average 0.9C warmer than the period between 19611990, with 2019 being 1.1C above the 1961-1990 average.
It found that the Earth’s surface temperature has risen by 1C since the pre-industrial period between 18501900.
Mr Byrne said that while 1C may not sound dramatic, there is a huge amount of variation region-to-region.
“The land region has warmed substantially higher than 1C,” he said.
“We think in 50-100 years we’ll see 2-3C of surface warming, with more over land and over the Arctic, which will present huge challenges and implications for people’s health.”
According to the Met Office, all of the UK’S 10 warmest years have occurred since 2002, with last year seeing the hottest day on record at 38.7C in Cambridge Botanic Garden on July 25.
Mr Byrne cited the 2003 heatwave which has been linked to nearly 15,000 deaths, most among the elderly, in France and which caused 2,000 excess deaths in the UK.
Ilan Kelman, professor of disasters and health at University College London, warned the UK’S rising temperatures will make it “highly dangerous” for people to be outside if more isn’t done to curtail climate change.
He said: “These temperatures are unfortunately in line with the expectations for heat under climate change, which is one of the most concerning health impacts.
“Without stopping human-caused climate change, these levels of summer heat and humidity will become regular, making it highly dangerous for us to be outdoors and even indoors without continual cooling.”