UK sees joint warmest September on record
- Published
With nights drawing in and Storm Agnes recently bringing strong winds and rain, the early September heatwave might seem a distant memory.
However, that heatwave and above average temperatures generally made it the joint warmest September on record in the United Kingdom.
This also ties in with global average temperatures which have been running at record warmth too.
Warmer weather in the UK has extended into October.
The Met Office has released figures showing that the average temperature in the UK throughout September was 15.2C, making it tied with 2006 as the warmest September on record.
Breaking that down into average maximum recorded temperature, the month was 19.4C, the warmest in 127 years and joint top with 1895.
For England and Wales, it was the warmest September on record.
The high temperatures were partly due to the extensive and record heatwave at the start of September. There were seven consecutive days when the temperature rose above 30C.
The UK's highest recorded temperature of 2023 was also recorded during that heatwave. The year's high occurring in September has only happened four times before, since records began.
Changing UK climate
The Met Office conducted a rapid attribution study on the September warmth which gives some idea about how climate change may have had an impact.
It concluded that the UK September mean temperature of 15.2C would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change.
Met Office senior scientist Jennifer Pirret said, "September 2023's temperature was substantially influenced by climate change".
Global heat
The heat seen in the United Kingdom is also reflected in what we have seen elsewhere.
For France, Germany, Denmark and Austria, September was also the warmest on record. In France, the mean temperature was over a degree higher then the previous warmest set in 1949.
Globally, temperatures have spiked since the start of June with the last few months being the warmest on record - and by quite a margin.
Berkeley Earth, an organisation that tracks global temperatures, said in their August temperature assessment that 2023 is .
Scientists have previously suggested that with the presence of El Ni帽o in the Pacific, a warming phase of a natural weather pattern, global temperatures are expected to be higher.
The margin at which the globe has warmed since the summer has surprised some.
Professor Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading recently said . He commented that global temperatures are breaking records by "shocking" amounts.
Warm October
Back in the United Kingdom, the warmer than average weather has continued into October
On Sunday, the first day of October, the temperature in south-east England peaked at 24.1C in Wisley, Surrey. This is around six degrees higher than average for the time of year.
It made it the warmest October day in five years and the warmest start to the month since 2011.
While the rest of this week won't quite as warm, as we head into the weekend we will see a return of the warmth. Temperatures on Saturday, for example, are expected to widely reach the low 20s with parts of south-east England up into the mid-20s.
Temperatures are not expected to exceed the current October record of 29.9 C set in 2011, however.
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