31 January 2007
This January will be the second hottest on record for the UK after temperatures reached "ridiculously warm" heights, forecasters said today.
Met Office figures suggest what early cherry blossoms and wide-awake hedgehogs have already led us to suspect - this month has been much warmer than average.
Across the UK, temperatures this year have so far averaged 5.9C - 2.5C above the long-term norm for January, the Met Office said.
It has already predicted that 2007 will be the hottest ever year with a global average temperature of 14.5C, following last year's record-breaking year.
The mild weather leaves January just a fraction off the record 1916 average for the month of 6.3C.
The figures show that the balmy temperatures peaked at 15C in Aberdeenshire on January 12. This compares to the UK's January record of 18.3C, reached in both 1971 and 2003.
Barry Gromett, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "It's a notably warm month and follows a record-breaking autumn and a warm December."
Last year was in fact the warmest on record in the UK, with an average temperature of 9.7C - 1.1C above average.
Met Office figures show that in central England temperatures have been averaging 7.1C this month, lower than the average of 7.5C recorded in January 1916.
Michael Dukes, a forecaster at MeteoGroup UK, said: "It's more evidence - not proof - but more evidence towards a warming climate. It follows on from a very warm December as well."
Mr Dukes added that record books suggested this winter was on course to rank among the warmest.
With temperatures forecast to reach 12C in some areas of the UK tomorrow, it looks as though February will get off to a warm start - if the trend continues throughout the month, this winter could break temperature records.
A report by UN scientists due out on Friday will suggest that a continuing increase in greenhouse gases will make the planet 3C hotter by 2100.
In future, this year's mild January may seem cold by comparison.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329701623-121568,00.html
