2022 was UK's warmest year ever: ‘Notable moment in climatological history’

UK Weather: Across twelve months, the mean temperature in the country was 10.03 Celsius which much higher than the previous record.

UK's weather agency said that 2022 was the the country's warmest year ever as average annual temperature in the year was more than 10 Celsius for the first time. Across twelve months, the mean temperature in the country was 10.03 Celsius which much higher than the previous record of 9.88 Celsius in 2014.

UK Weather: People walk along a shopping street, ahead of stores opening for the traditional Boxing Day sales in London. (Reuters)

With this, UK's 15 of top 20 warmest years on record have all occurred in this century. The top 10 were witnessed within the past two decades alone.

Head of the weather agency Mark McCarthy said, "Although an arbitrary number, the UK surpassing an annual average temperature of 10C is a notable moment in our climatological history.

“This moment comes as no surprise, since 1884 all the 10 years recording the highest annual temperature have occurred from 2003. It is clear from the observational record that human-induced global warming is already impacting the UK's climate,” Mark McCarthy added.

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Earlier, the weather agency had warned that UK could witness extreme heatwaves which are 30 times more likely now than before the Industrial Revolution. The trend of higher maximum temperatures and longer warm spells in the UK will continue and the UK could even see temperatures up to 40 Celsius every three to four years by 2100.