Last month was officially the UK’s joint warmest September ever | UK News

The UK just experienced its joint-warmest September since records began almost 150 years ago.

According to provisional Met Office statistics, the mean temperature last month sat at 15.2°C, the same level as the previous record set in 2006. 

The weather agency says the statistics are likely to have been ‘substantially influenced’ by the impact of climate change. 

The provisional mean temperature for England sat slightly higher than the overall number, at 16.7°C, with Wales trailing behind at 15.6°C. 

Scotland meanwhile experienced its third warmest September with an average mean temperature of 12.8°C, bringing the overall figure slightly down. 

Met Office Scientific Manager Mark McCarthy said: ‘This September’s temperature records are heavily driven by how significantly warm the first half of the month was. 

‘Not only did September have the hottest day of the year – something that has only happened on four previous occasions in our observations – but it also had seven consecutive days where temperatures were above 30°C somewhere in the UK, which had never happened in this month in Met Office observations.’

The weather agency further contends such warmth ‘would be virtually impossible without human-induced climate change.’

Met Office Senior Scientist Jennifer Pirret, a member of the Weather and Climate Extremes Impact Team, said: ‘In a pre-industrial climate these temperatures would have been nearly impossible for the UK in September. 

‘It shows how climate change is moving the dial on mean temperatures.’

She went on: ‘As global temperatures continue to rise as a result of human greenhouse gas emissions, we expect these changes to increase over the coming decades, though the natural year-to-year variability of the UK climate will obviously continue to play a role.’

It also follows a summer of record-breaking heat and extreme weather around the world, with Europe in particular battered by two consecutive heatwaves, widespread wildfires and flooding.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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