Met Office - UK On Track For Warmest Year Ever Recorded

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Britain is on course to register the hottest year on record as much of the country enjoyed a sunny day just hours after the official start of winter.

Met Office figures due to be published tomorrow will show this month has been one of the hottest Octobers ever recorded. July and September this year were the hottest since records began 234 years ago in 1772.

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Met Office forecaster Nigel Bolton said today: "The average temperature for October will be substantially higher than average. Temperatures for October 2006 have been consistently above average, but we have not seen extreme temperatures. The maximum we have seen is 22C. During the notoriously warm autumn of 1978, October saw temperatures of 26C during the second week of the month. It is these protracted warm spells that give us very high average temperatures.

"The rainfall is close to average, but it has been very variable throughout the country. The North East of Scotland had a month’s worth of rain on Wednesday and Thursday, while other parts of England have been relatively dry. There have also been particularly strong thunderstorms, especially in the South and South West." He added: "The consistently high average temperatures throughout 2006 mean this could be the hottest year on record. However, we still have two more months to go so we can't say it for certain." The Met Office earlier this autumn confirmed that the record hot summer was almost definitely down to climate change. Mr Bolton said: "May to September was one of the warmest on record, with records broken in July and September.


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http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=YW2930529Q&new...