2014 – Scotland’s warmest year ever
Newly released figures from the Met Office show that 2014 was the warmest year ever recorded in Scotland.
TOP LINES FOR SCOTLAND FOR 2014:
2014 was the warmest year ever recorded in Scotland, with an average temperature of 8.44°Celsius, in records going back to 1910.
The 1981-2010 average is 7.4°Celsius and the next warmest year was 2006 at 8.2°C.
All but one month in 2014 were warmer, and 8 months more than 1°Celsius warmer, than the 1981-2010 average
Seasons – Spring 2014 was the warmest spring ever recorded, autumn was the 3rd warmest ever
Temperature – April was the 4h warmest April, June was the equal 4th warmest June and September and November were the 5th warmest September and November ever recorded
Rain – February was the 5th wettest February and October was the 3rd wettest October ever recorded, September was the 2nd driest September ever
Sunshine – May was the 2nd least sunny May ever recorded
2014 was also the warmest year globally. The ten warmest years in Scotland since records began in 1910 are 2014, 2006, 2003, 2007, 2004, 2005, 2011, 1997, 2012 and 1945 (warmest first). So 8 of the 10 warmest years on record have been since 2000.
Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said,
“With the warmest spring ever and all but one month above average, 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded in Scotland. This means that eight years since 2000 are in the top ten warmest since records began in 1910. Scotland’s weather is showing a very clear long-term trend of increasing temperatures, just as climate change scientists predict.
“A warming Scotland isn’t good news. Increasing temperatures will lead to more unpredictable and extreme weather events both at home and around the world. The consequences for us in Scotland are more flooding, storms and droughts. We should heed the warnings the weather is giving us because things will get much worse if the world continues to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the current rate.
“Following the inconclusive Lima climate conference in December, the world’s governments have a lot of work to do if they are to set new emission reduction targets at the UN Climate conference in Paris at the end of this year. Scotland has great ambitions on reducing climate emissions, but we need to do more in housing, transport and agriculture to meet our own targets, and start to to make some tough decision about leaving fossil fuels in the ground.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. Data from the Met Office http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/datasets with further analysis by Friends of the Earth Scotland. Today’s Met Office press release about UK figures is here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2015/Record-UK-temps-2014
Monthly average temperatures for 2014 compared to the 1980-2010 average.
2. The latest reports from the UN spell out the need for urgent action on climate change: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/node/1915, http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/node/1817 & http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/node/1826
3. Friends of the Earth Scotland’s verdict on the Lima climate conference is here: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/LimaResult
4. Friends of the Earth Scotland is part of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, an alliance of development, environment and civil society groups aiming for tougher action to reduce emissions http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/scotland
5. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland's leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 74 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups.