An Exceptional Year? Hardly, Mr McCarthy

By Paul Homewood

2019 has been a year of extremes: record-breaking heat and rain, along with notable spells of cold and windy weather have all been prominent.

As we approach year-end, we’ve highlighted the most notable climate features of the year, including two all-time temperature records:

Warmest winter day on record: 21.2 °C recorded at Kew Garden on 26 February
Hottest day on record: 38.7 °C recorded at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens on 25 July

Dr Mark McCarthy is the head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre. Commenting on 2019, he said: “2019 will be remembered as an exceptional year for weather records, as it is unusual to get both the UK summer and winter high temperature records within the same calendar year. But this continues a pattern of high-temperature records in the UK over the last few decades, as a result of our warming climate.”