Scotland heading for second warmest year ever

TOP LINES FOR SCOTLAND:

2014 is on course to be the 2nd warmest year ever recorded in Scotland

All months in 2014 have been warmer, and 4 months more than 1 degree centigrade warmer, than the 1981-2010 average

Spring 2014 was the warmest spring ever recorded

April was the 4th warmest April and June was the equal 4th warmest June ever recorded

February was the 5th wettest February ever recorded

A developing El Nino – a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean which boosts global temperatures – could make 2014 the warmest year ever globally. May 2014 was the planet’s warmest May ever recorded.

Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said,

“With the warmest spring ever and every month above average so far, 2014 is on course to be one of the very hottest years on record. It would join the seven other years since 2000 which are in the top ten warmest since records began in 1910. Scotland’s weather is showing a very clear long-term trend of increasing temperatures, just as climate change scientists predict.

“Climate change brings not just increasing global temperatures but increasingly unpredictable weather. Scotland is caught between the changing influences of disappearing Arctic ice, the shifting jet stream and a weakening Gulf Stream. The consequences for us are more extreme weather, bringing more flooding, storms and droughts.”

The world’s nations have agreed to set new emission reduction targets at the UN Climate conference in Paris at the end of 2015. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has organised a gathering of world leaders this September to start getting firm targets on the table.

“We should heed the warnings the weather is giving us because things will get much worse if the world continues to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the current rate. Scotland has great ambitions on reducing climate emissions, but we need to work harder on meeting our own targets. The world’s big polluters are getting more serious about reducing climate change emissions but they need to start agreeing tough new targets.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Data from the Met Office http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/datasets with further analysis by Friends of the Earth Scotland.

2. The five warmest years in Scotland since records began in 1910 are 2006, 2003, 2007, 2004, 2005 (warmest first). 7 of the 10 warmest years on record have been since 2000.

3. The latest reports from the UN spell out the need for urgent action on climate change: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/node/1817 & http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/node/1826

4. Friends of the Earth Scotland is part of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, an alliance of development, environment and civil society groups aiming for tougher action to reduce emissions http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/scotland

5. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:

* Scotland's leading environmental campaigning organisation

* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland

* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 77 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups. http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk