In truly unprecedented news, the UK is enjoying an early summer, with sunshine and warm spells across the country.
Experts have suggested the reason for this uncharacteristically hot weather, however, could be due to a heatwave in the Arctic region.
As global warming continues to impact the planet, temperatures averaged around 14°C above normal in the North Pole, while forecasts indicated this figure could jump up to 30°C higher than what is typical for this time of year.
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Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, told The Washington Post: “Looking back over the last few decades, we can clearly see a trend in warming, particularly in the ‘cold season’ in the Arctic.
“It’s not surprising that warm air is busting through into the Arctic this year. In general we expect to see more and more of these events in the future.”
The UK is similarly experiencing higher temperatures, and is set to enjoy its warmest day of the year so far.
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No doubt people will be flocking to their nearest beach or beer garden this weekend to make the most of the sun while it lasts.
Taking to Twitter today (19 March), the Met Office said: “For many, away from eastern and southern coasts, it will feel warm in the spring sunshine today.
“Temperatures could exceed 19 Celsius across parts of north west Scotland, which would make today the warmest day of the year so far.”
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth added: “Today lots of areas will be seeing a very warm day for March, especially in north-west Scotland and parts of the Moray coast.
“We could see temperatures up to 20°C in that area this afternoon.
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“Away from that we’re likely to see temperatures of the mid to high teens, so highs of about 15°C in London, and then in more western areas, so the north coast of Devon and Cornwall and the north coast of Wales, we can see more like 16°C or 17°C in those areas.
“It's because we’ve got high pressure bringing wall-to-wall sunshine for much of the UK today.”
And it seems the sunny spells are set to continue, with weather experts predicting a heatwave will descend on the UK next month.
Speaking to the Daily Express, meteorologist Jim Dale said Brits should be ready to bust out the barbecue and crack open a cold one in the coming weeks.
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He told the publication that he wouldn't be surprised if temperatures in April reach 28°C, a time of year when the average high is usually about 12°C.
He said: "I think hot weather could come in fairly early as far as April is concerned perhaps.
“I know March is the start of Spring but I think we’re probably going to get properly into April before we start to see the searing sort of temperatures.
"I wouldn’t be surprised to see 26C, 27C, 28C in the middle of April."
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Dale continued: “Longer-term, given what’s happening globally in terms of the temperature profiles in the southern hemisphere and what’s also happening in the United States, I would not be surprised if we started to see some big highlights – in whichever direction it goes, either cold or hot.
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"It is more likely that we see those spikes of heat at early stages because of global warming.
"It’s too difficult to be certain at this moment, but I would not be surprised to see the summer deliver the same kind of heat stress at times."
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Weather, UK News, Global Warming
