Hotter & wetter
Met Office forecasts trend in UK towards tropical weather
BRITISH weather is taking a tropical turn as the days get hotter and nights get stickier, according to experts.
The warmest days have gone up 1C in the past 10 years, while the coldest have grown milder by 1.7C, says the Met Office.
Rainfall has risen too, with the maximum five-day fall up from 77.8mm to 81.4mm.
And the extra heat could be bad news for our health.
The Met Office’s Dr Mark McCarthy said: “A particular concern are these tropical nights, when the body gets no respite from the heat.” Tropical nights – when temperatures stay above 20C – have increased dramatically since the 60s.
In the 30 years between 1961 and 1990, there were just eight sultry nights hotter than that.
But in the 10 years to 2017, we’ve had four 20C-plus nights.
The Met Office predicts that scorching sun and monsoon- style rainfall are likely become more common in future.
But a general background of climate change is not thought to be the only cause. Big cities seem to have their own effect.
While nature played a part in extreme rainfall, changing temperature was driven by modern lifestyles, the Met Office said.
Data has shown that, while the 1976 heatwave was one of the most significant for the UK, tropical nights only really begin to stand out after 1995. Dr McCarthy added: “It particularly applies to large cities, as they will retain more of the heat from the day.”