Warm start puts 2007 in UK on course for record
Pastor Dale Morgan
Warm start puts 2007 in UK on course for record*
Last Updated: 2:19am GMT 12/03/2007
Britain is on course to swelter in the hottest year since 1659, when
records began, weathermen said yesterday.
This year is already 2.7C hotter than average and forecasters say it
will smash the record for the warmest year ever if the trend continues.
It comes just months after 2006 was named the hottest year on record but
that was just 1.35C warmer than usual. This year has seen that
difference double so far.
Earlier this month, the Met Office announced that the previous autumn
and winter was also warmer than any previously recorded.
London enjoyed temperatures of about 17C yesterday, which matched the
holiday hot spots of Majorca and Malaga and continued the trend of
abnormally warm weather for the first part of 2007.
The average mean temperature for January, February and the first week of
March has been 6.57C, a sizeable 2.67C higher than the expected seasonal
average.
National forecaster Andrew Sibley, from the Met Office, said: "The year
has got off to a very warm start.
"If it carried on with this anomaly, it would be quite a way above
previous values, but it is too early to say whether this year is going
to be the warmest on record - there is quite a way to go."
The Met Office has already predicted this year will be the warmest on
record for the Earth, but cannot predict whether individual countries
will also experience record-breaking temperatures.