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The UK has recorded its hottest December day ever.
Temperatures of 18.7C were recorded in Scotland over the weekend, the highest ever measured in the UK during December.
The Met Office said the recording taken from Achfary was “provisional” and still needs to be quality controlled. But if validated it will be “the highest temperature officially recorded in the UK during December”, it said.
The previous record had stood since 1948, when a temperature of 18.3C was recorded in Achnashellach in Scotland, on 2 December.
This year has already seen the hottest winter day on record, when a temperature of 21.2C was taken at Kew Gardens in February. It also saw the hottest day on record in the UK, when 38.7C was registered at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens on 25 July.
Show all 20 1 /20Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Redding, California Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Carlisle, England In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Hebden Bridge, England Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change."
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Somerset, England Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Dumfries, Scotland "In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures New South Wales, Australia Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Tonle Sap, Cambodia Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Addis Ababa, Ethiopia In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Morocco Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Purmerend, The Netherlands Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Xiamen, China Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Chennai, India Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Amazon rainforest, Brazil More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture
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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue
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The Met Office noted in its year in review that 2019 had seen record highs throughout the year, which is unusual.
“2019 will be remembered as an exceptional year for weather records, as it is unusual to get both the UK summer and winter high temperature records within the same calendar year,” said Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre.
“But this continues a pattern of high-temperature records in the UK over the last few decades, as a result of our warming climate.”
It comes as experts warn that the number and intensity of extreme weather events are set to increase because of climate change .
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