State of the global and UK climates

Recently two reports have been published that provide assessments of the global and UK climates in 2017. These complement the “WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2017” that was published by the World Meteorological Organization in March 2018: https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=97#.W3FLHsInaUk.

Global climate

©American Meteorological Society. Used with permission.

A report on the “State of the Climate in 2017” has been published as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The report, compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It includes a detailed update on global climate indicators and notable weather events. The following are a few examples of what is in the report.

  • The global surface temperature was the second or third warmest (depending on the dataset used) since records began in the mid- to late 1800s.
  • Global mean sea level was the highest annual average in the satellite altimetry era (since 1993).
  • Some areas experienced remarkable tropical and post-tropical cyclone precipitation, while others were affected by extended droughts.

The report can be found at https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/.

Blunden, J., D.S. Arndt & G. Hartfield , Eds., 2018: State of the Climate in 2017. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 99(8), Si–S332, doi:10.1175/2018BAMSStateoftheClimate.I.

UK climate

Cover of IJC - State of the Climate 2017. Used with permission.
Cover of IJC – State of the Climate 2017. Used with permission.

The Met Office in the UK has prepared a summary of the UK weather and climate in 2017. The report, “State of the UK Climate 2017” provides an accessible, authoritative and up-to-date assessment of UK climate trends, variations and extremes. For example, the report indicates the following.

  • The land surface temperature was the fifth warmest year in a record dating back to 1910.
  • UK near‐coastal sea‐surface temperature was the equal‐fifth warmest in a series from 1870.
  • For the UK as a whole, rainfall was close to average, but with large regional differences.

The report has been published as a special issue of the International Journal of Climatology, which is the Royal Meteorological Society journal of climate science. It can be accessed at https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/10970088/2018/38/S2:

Kendon, M., McCarthy, S. Jevrejeva, A. Matthews & T Legg, 2018. State of the UK climate 2017. Int J Climatol., 38 (Suppl. 2):1–35. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5798.

 

By Bob Riddaway, EMS President

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