2020 'could be one of the warmest years on record' says Met Office

Rochdale town centre

The annual global temperature forecast for 2020 suggests that this year will once again extend the series of the earth’s hottest years, according to the Met Office.

The series of warmest years began in 2015; the first year when global temperatures rose by 1.0 °C since the pre-industrial period (1850-1900). Records of global temperature began in 1850.

The warmest year on record was in 2016, when significant El Niño-related warming in the tropical Pacific boosted the global temperature.

2020 is projected to be another very warm year, but this time without a strong El Niño signal, instead being driven by rising levels of greenhouse gases. 

Dr Doug Smith, Met Office research fellow, has said the forecast would place 2020 'amongst the six warmest years on record, which would all have occurred since 2015'.

Locally, this summer brought record-breaking temperatures, as a high of 32.7 °C was reached on Thursday 25 July - the hottest day in the borough since records began.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/130162/summer-2019-largely-warm-and-wet-in-rochdale

According to the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, summer 2019 was the twelfth warmest on record since 1910 across the UK, and was the 7th wettest overall for the same time period.