Why UK is facing a colder, stormier future

BRITAIN could be hit by more storms after the Gulf Stream ocean current weakened to its lowest level for over 1,000 years, researchers said yesterday.

The drift, which starts in the Gulf of Mexico and is responsible for keeping weather here mild, is slowing down in an unprecedented way and could also lead to plunging temperatures, they warned.

It has slowed by about 15 per cent since the 1950s due to climate change. Experts fear by 2100 the system will weaken further by 34 to 45 per cent, becoming dangerously close to the tipping point at which the flow becomes unstable.

If this happens, the eastern US coast will face dangerously rising sea levels and western Europe would be plunged into scorching hot summers and a deep freeze in winters, with ice storms rampaging and the average temperature dropping by 10C.

Professor Stefan Rahmstorf from Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said: ‘The Gulf Stream system

‘The effects would cause havoc’

works like a giant conveyor belt, carrying warm surface water from the equator up north, and sending cold, low- salinity deep water back down south.

‘It has been relatively stable until the late 19th century. With the end of the little ice age in about 1850, the ocean currents began to decline, with a second, more drastic decline following since the mid-20th century.’

Study co- author Dr David Thornalley, of University College London told the Mail there was around a 10 per cent chance the Gulf Stream system will collapse by 2100 – with profound effects.

He said: ‘In the UK climate models suggest there would be more winter storms and more summer heatwaves.

‘The effects would cause havoc around the world, shifting rainfall patterns that would affect hundreds of millions of people.’ Dr Thornalley said the effects may already be being felt with warmer winters and more winter storms. The study was published in Nature Geoscience.