Unfortunately, the Great British summer is over. But, was it actually as wet and miserable as it was predicted to be? And how does this compare to wider climate changes and global weather events? Let’s take a look.
Global Weather Trends
Over the past year or so, the weather has seen some drastic shifts, even in places known for having consistent conditions. Just take somewhere like the Sahara Desert. This environment is known for being extremely hot and dry – it’s one of the driest places on earth – so much so that these conditions are used to symbolise the area.
Across different media such as the Cash Collect casino game Sahara Riches, the Sahara is depicted as sunny, sandy, and not a cloud in the sky. The environment is stylised as bright and barren, as typical flora struggle to grow in the area. However, even a place with such iconic stable conditions like the Sahara is seeing changes to its weather.
In fact, according to Severe Weather Europe, the Sahara has recently experienced an unexpected rainfall event that hasn’t been seen in several thousand years. During this weather event, parts of the desert will have experienced five-to-eight times their average rainfall. In the most affected areas, this could see 1 inch of rain, which amounts to five-to-ten years worth of rainfall. A similar phenomena can be seen throughout the world – though perhaps not to this scale. After Greece experienced its longest heatwave in history in summer 2024, this has been followed by urgent alerts for emergency weather warnings pertaining to heavy rainfall, hail, and storms.
UK’s Wettest Summer in a Century?
Back in May 2024, the Met Office predicted that the UK would experience the wettest summer since 1912. This meant that the country was geared up for over 55 days of rainfall – which is defined as more than 2.5mm of precipitation. This rainfall event came to be due to a fast movement of air which brings low pressure, known as the jet stream.For the first half of the summer, the jet stream continued to sit above the UK, which led to cloudy skies and rainy days. Coupled with the cold northerly winds, this led the UK to have average temperatures 0.4°C below average in June, and 2.4°C below average in July – even more extreme when compared to June 2023, which was the hottest June on record.
In recent figures from the Met Office reported by the BBC, however, the summer of 2024 might not have been as wet as it was first expected. Parts of the Midlands, for example, only experienced a third of the precipitation predicted. That said, Western Scotland and the North West of England indeed had a particularly wet summer. In fact, Achnagarron experienced double their average rainfall, making it the wettest August on record. Whilst the high rainfall might not have been as widespread as predicted, the temperatures still suffered, with an overall average temperature of 14.37°C – 0.22°C below average. This made the summer of 2024 the coolest UK summer in nearly a decade.
As you can see, whilst this may not have been the wettest summer in 100 years, it most certainly wasn’t the average UK summer. With increased rainfall and cooler temperatures, this is just one indication of wider climate changes and unpredictability across the world.
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