With a third of places in the UK experiencing their hottest year on record in 2023, and dangerous summer heatwaves becoming the norm, what can we do, locally, to reverse the trend?
Annual average temperature in UK from 1884 to 2023.
Download your warming stripes:
UK Warming Stripes
This unmistakable graphic, known as warming stripes or climate stripes, shows just how much the UK climate has changed recently and how rapidly it has become much hotter.
Each stripe represents the average temperature for a single year, relative to the average temperature, over the period from 1884 to 2023. Shades of blue indicate cooler-than-average years, while red shows years that were hotter than average. The stark band of deep red stripes on the right-hand side of the graphic show the rapid heating in recent decades.
Local Warming Stripes
Working with the Met Office and Professor Ed Hawkins (University of Reading), Carbon Copy has released local versions of the latest warming stripes covering all 379 primary council areas in the UK. What is concerning is that for 119 of the areas we covered (roughly a third), 2023 was the hottest on record. Was your area one of these hot spots?
Why do we care if average temperatures are becoming hotter? All too quickly, things turn from nice hot summers to heatwaves and water shortages. We are more vulnerable to “all or nothing” rain patterns with very wet months and flash flooding in more places. Ironically, we also are susceptible to colder spells as warming temperatures push cold air into non-traditional areas. In short, our weather becomes increasingly unpredictable and extreme.
UK Hot Weather
We would do well not to look away from these local climate stripes. They are striking visuals of our changing climate and useful for starting bigger conversations when hot weather becomes too hot. What can we do together? We can adapt our neighbourhoods and towns so the places where we live can withstand the heat. We can build a stronger sense of community locally so that collectively we can cope better with heatwaves and drought. We can give our government – at all levels from national to local – permission to take much bolder action on the climate emergency and nature crisis.
