Extreme Weather in the UK

 I suppose it must not be surprising to know that the United Kingdom has experienced the same rising in temperatures that everywhere else in the world has seen due to climate change. The United Kingdom, along with almost every other country in the world signed the Paris Agreement, which is part of a worldwide effort to combat climate change. The agreement states that everyone should collectively try to reduce carbon emissions that will hurt the ozone layer further and most importantly keep the Earth from going above 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperature averages.The image below states more about the increase in UK average temperatures as well as the increased “frequency, duration, and intensity of these events”.

The UK has experienced the 10 hottest days in their recorded history all in the last 20 years. Keep in mind that the UK has been recording temperatures since 1884. Unfortunately, they have also had 2 huge heatwaves recently. The second biggest heat wave in 2003 resulted in 2,000 deaths. Since then there has been one other heat wave that has beat out the 2003 record of 38.5 degrees Celsius. This was in 2019 at 38.7 degrees Celsius. 

Heat waves are just one of the extremities in weather that the UK has seen increased frequency in. The flip flopping of droughts, flash floods, storms and heat waves have been chaotic in the last 2 decades. The UK is underprepared for the extreme changes in weather, many deaths have occurred along with road closures, and bursting pipes that left thousands without running water, not to mention power outages as well. This used to be uncommon for the UK, their temperatures may have varied by location in the country but they were consist at least, now it seems that the chaos is something the British must prepare for.