26 research outputs found
The 2010-12 drought and subsequent extensive flooding: a remarkable hydrological transformation
Across most of the UK, the 2010â12 period was remarkable in climatic terms with exceptional departures from
normal rainfall, runoff and aquifer recharge patterns. Generalising broadly, drought conditions developed through
2010, intensified during 2011 and were severe across much of England & Wales by the early spring of 2012. Record
late spring and summer rainfall then triggered a hydrological transformation that has no close modern parallel. Seasonally extreme river flows were common through the summer, heralding further extensive flooding during the autumn and, particularly, the early winter when record runoff at the national scale provided a culmination to the wettest nineâmonth sequence for England & Wales in an instrumental record beginning in 1766.
This report provides comprehensive documentation and hydrometeorological appraisals of a threeâyear period which
incorporated a number of important regional drought episodes as well as the outstanding runoff and recharge
patterns which characterised most of 2012. An examination of the wide range of impacts of the drought and flood
episodes is included and the extreme hydrometeorological conditions are examined within an extended historical
context. Finally, the recent exceptional conditions are reviewed in the light of observational evidence for trends in temperature, rainfall, river flow and aquifer recharge patterns
State of the UK climate 2018
This report provides a summary of the UK weather and climate through the calendar year 2018, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. This is the fifth in a series of annual âState of the UK climateâ publications and an update to the 2017 report (Kendon et al., 2018). It provides an accessible, authoritative and upâtoâdate assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes based on the most up to date observational datasets of climate quality.
The majority of this report is based on observations of temperature, precipitation, sunshine and wind speed from the UK land weather station network as managed by the Met Office and a number of key partners and coâoperating volunteers. The observations are carefully managed such that they conform to current best practice observational standards as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The observations also pass through a range of quality assurance procedures at the Met Office before application for climate monitoring. In addition, time series of nearâcoast seaâsurface temperature (SST) and seaâlevel rise are also presented. The process for generating national and regional statistics from these observations has been updated since Kendon et al., 2018. This report makes use of a new dataset, HadUKâGrid, which provides improved quality and traceability for these national statistics along with temperature and rainfall series that extend back into the 19th Century. Differences with previous data are described in the relevant sections and appendices.
The report presents summary statistics for year 2018 and the most recent decade (2009â2018) against 1961â1990 and 1981â2010 averages. Year 2009â2018 is a nonâstandard reference period, but it provides a 10âyear âsnapshotâ of the most recent experience of the UK's climate and how that compares to historical records. This means differences between 2009 and 2018 and the baseline reference averages may reflect shorterâterm decadal variations as well as longâterm trends. These data are presented to show what has happened in recent years, not necessarily what is expected to happen in a changing climate.
The majority of maps in this report show year 2018 against the 1981â2010 baseline reference averaging periodâthat is, they are anomaly maps which show the spatial variation in this difference from average. Maps of actual values are in most cases not displayed because these are dominated by the underlying climatology, which for this report is of a lesser interest than the yearâtoâyear variability.
Throughout the report's text the terms âabove normalâ and âabove average,â etc. refer to the 1981â2010 baseline reference averaging period unless otherwise stated. Values quoted in tables throughout this report are rounded, but where the difference between two such values is quoted in the text (for example, comparing the most recent decade with 1981â2010), this difference is calculated from the original unrounded values
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State of the <scp>UK</scp> Climate 2020
INTRODUCTION: This report provides a summary of the UK weather and climate through the calendar year 2020, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. This is the seventh in a series of annual âState of the UK climateâ publications and an update to the 2019 report (Kendon et al., 2020). It provides an accessible, authoritative and upâtoâdate assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes based on the most up to date observational datasets of climate quality. The majority of this report is based on observations of temperature, precipitation, sunshine and wind speed from the UK land weather station network as managed by the Met Office and a number of key partners and coâoperating volunteers. The observations are carefully managed such that they conform to current best practice observational standards as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The observations also pass through a range of quality assurance procedures at the Met Office before application for climate monitoring. Time series of nearâcoast seaâsurface temperature and seaâlevel are also presented and in addition a short section on phenology which provides dates of first leaf and bare tree indicators for four common shrub or tree species. National and regional statistics in this report are from the HadUKâGrid dataset which is the principal source of data (Hollis et al., 2019). Temperature and rainfall series from this dataset extend back to 1884 and 1862, respectively. Details of the datasets used throughout this report and how the various series which are presented are derived are provided in the appendices. The report presents summary statistics for the most recent year 2020 against the most recent decade 2011â2020, the most recent 30âyear reference period (1981â2010) and the climate reference period 1961â1990. The full series provide longerâterm context, while a comparison is also made to centennial averages for the Central England Temperature series. The decade 2011â2020 is a nonâstandard reference period, but it provides a 10âyear âsnapshotâ of the most recent experience of the UK's climate and how that compares to historical records. This means differences between 2011 and 2020 and 30âyear reference periods may reflect shorterâterm decadal variations as well as longâterm trends. For this annual publication, the most recent decade (currently 2011â2020) changes every year, while the most recent 30âyear reference period (currently 1981â2010) changes every decade. For next year's report, the most recent 30âyear reference period will change from 1981â2010 to 1991â2020, while the climate reference period 1961â1990 will be retained. However, this report also includes a brief summary of key differences between preliminary 1991â2020 and 1981â2010 averages for temperature and rainfall. Throughout the report's text the terms âabove normalâ and âabove averageâ and so on refer to the 1981â2010 baseline reference period unless otherwise stated. The majority of maps in this report show the year 2020 relative to the 1981â2010 reference periodâthat is, they are anomaly maps which show the spatial variation in this difference from average. Maps of actual values are in most cases not displayed because these are dominated by the underlying climatology, which for this report is of a lesser interest than the yearâtoâyear variability. These data are presented to show what has happened in recent years, not necessarily what is expected to happen in a changing climate. Values quoted in tables throughout this report are rounded, but where the difference between two such values is quoted in the text (e.g., comparing the most recent decade with 1981â2010), this difference is calculated from the original unrounded values. Updates Compared to State of UK Climate 2019 A chart showing global surface temperature has been added. The section on sea level rise has been revised. A section summarizing key differences between preliminary 1991â2010 and 1981â2010 averages has been added. Feedback We would welcome suggestions or recommendations for future annual publications of this report. Please send any feedback to the Met Office at [email protected] This State of the UK Climate report was supported by the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme funded by BEIS and Defra
State of the UK Climate 2019
This report provides a summary of the UK weather and climate through the calendar year 2019, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. This is the sixth in a series of annual âState of the UK Climateâ publications and an update to the 2018 report (Kendon et al., 2019). It provides an accessible, authoritative and upâtoâdate assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes based on the most up to date observational datasets of climate quality
State of the UK Climate 2022
This report provides a summary of the UK's weather and climate through the calendar year 2022, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. This is the ninth in a series of annual âState of the UK Climateâ publications and an update to the 2021 report (Kendon et al., 2022). It provides an accessible, authoritative and up-to-date assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes based on the most up-to-date observational datasets of climate quality
The state of the Martian climate
60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981â2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes
State of the UK climate 2017
This report provides a summary of the UK weather and climate through the calendar year 2017, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. This is the fourth in a series of annual âState of the UK climateâ publications and an update to the 2016 report (Kendon et al., 2017). It provides an accessible, authoritative and upâtoâdate assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes based on the most up to date observational datasets of climate quality.
The majority of this report is based on observations of temperature, precipitation, sunshine and wind speed from the UK land weather station network as managed by the Met Office and a number of key partners and coâoperating volunteers. The observations are carefully managed such that they conform to current best practice observational standards as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The observations also pass through a range of quality assurance procedures at the Met Office before application for climate monitoring. In addition, time series of nearâcoast seaâsurface temperature and seaâlevel rise are also presented.
The report presents summary statistics for year 2017 and the most recent decade (2008â2017) against 1961â1990 and 1981â2010 averages. 2008â2017 is a nonâstandard reference period, but it provides a 10âyear âsnapshotâ of the most recent experience of the UKâs climate and how that compares to historical records. This means differences between 2008â2017 and the baseline reference averages may reflect shorterâterm decadal variations as well as longâterm trends. These data are presented to show what has happened in recent years, not necessarily what is expected to happen in a changing climate.
The majority of maps in this report show year 2017 against the 1981â2010 baseline reference averaging periodâi.e., they are anomaly maps which show the spatial variation in this difference from average. Maps of actual values are not displayed because these are dominated by the underlying climatology, which for this report is of a lesser interest than the yearâtoâyear variability.
Throughout the reportâs text the terms âabove normalâ and âabove averageâ etc. refer to the 1981â2010 baseline reference averaging period unless otherwise stated. Values quoted in tables throughout this report are rounded, but where the difference between two such values is quoted in the text (for example comparing the most recent decade with 1981â2010), this difference is calculated from the original unrounded values