Hottest June ever in UK, Met Office says – but announcement ‘invokes something sinister’

Climate change meant last month was the hottest June on record, according to the Met Office.

June’s average mean temperature, calculated from the average daytime and nighttime temperature from across the UK, of 15.8C beats the previous record of 14.9C (set in both 1940 and 1976) by 0.9C.

It was the hottest June since records began in 1884.

The Met Office’s Mark McCarthy, who works in the team responsible for weather and climate records, said: “It’s officially the hottest June on record for the UK, for mean temperature as well as average maximum and minimum temperature.

“June started with a good deal of high pressure and temperatures initially around average for many, but once that subsided, warm, humid air began to influence temperatures, with 32.2C the highest temperatures reached.

“What’s striking is the persistent warmth for much of the month, with temperatures widely into the mid 20Cs for many and even into the low 30s at times.”

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72 counties across the UK set their hottest June since 1957, including Surrey, Somerset and Orkney, many of which recorded a mean temperature more than 2.5C above average.

The Met Office said the “fingerprint” of climate change is on the latest weather record, with Paul Davies, Met Office climate extremes principal fellow and chief meteorologist saying: “The background warming of the Earth’s atmosphere due to human induced climate change has driven up the possibility of reaching record high temperatures.

This is stark declaration – and invokes something sinister

Hannah Thomas-Peter

Climate change and energy correspondent

@hannahtpsky

The “fingerprint of climate change” on the UK’s June temperature record is a stark declaration from the Met Office.

The phrase invokes something sinister, as far away as possible from any celebration of a lovely warm June.

They will have chosen the language carefully, expecting the inevitable cries of “that’s nonsense, of course it’s warm in the summer!”

But the Met Office couldn’t be any clearer, acknowledging the normal fluctuations in weather while also highlighting the broader issue with a statement that reads: “Alongside natural variability, the background warming of the Earth’s atmosphere due to human induced climate change has driven up the possibility of reaching record high temperatures.”

The data bears this out.

The UK’s ten warmest years on record have happened in the last two decades.

This is what the Pentagon and NATO mean when they refer to climate change as a “threat multiplier” – a force that makes naturally occurring conditions worse.

It means droughts are more intense, heatwaves hotter, wildfire seasons earlier, eco-systems more fragile.

It means rainfall is more extreme, flooding more likely, and coastal erosion a bigger threat.

And it is no longer a problem in some faraway place.

Climate change does not respect borders, and the UK is not immune.

“Using our… climate projections, we can also see that there is a difference in the frequency of these sorts of extremes depending on the emissions scenario we follow in the future.

“By the 2050s the chance of surpassing the previous record of 14.9C could be as high as around 50%, or every other year.

The Met Office added June 2023 was also the sunniest since 1957, while rainfall was at only 68% of its average.

July started slightly cooler than the previous month, with many parts of the UK experiencing rain over the weekend.

Temperatures for the rest of the week appear to have cooled down, with showers persisting.

The Met Office revealed last week that ice in the Antarctic Sea is also at a record low for the month of June, and is significantly below the previous record, by 1.3 million sq km (501,930 sq miles) – an area more than five times that of the UK.

While a hosepipe ban was introduced for South East Water customers in Kent and Sussex.

South West Water customers in Cornwall have been subject to a hosepipe ban since August last year which has since been extended to others in Devon.

Along with parts of East Anglia, the South West has not left drought status since the extreme 40C heat last summer.