Research conducted by the Met Office reveals that a grand majority of the south of England may not see temperatures reaching freezing or below in as little as 20 years from now. The research also reports that only very remote areas of Scotland would have freezing temperatures by 2080.
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These projections come after warning to reduce our carbon emissions for the passed few decades. Senior Met Office scientist Dr Lizzie Kendon told BBC Panorama:
We're saying by the end of the century much of the lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground. The over-arching picture is warmer, wetter winters; hotter, drier summers.
What does this mean fo the years to come?
As a result of this increase in temperature in the coming years, more extreme weather fluctuations will become the norm. Dr. Kendon explains that:
we get this shift towards more extreme events, so more frequent and intense extremes, so heavier rainfall when it occurs
This also means that scotching hot heat waves in succession will be 16 times more frequent than was the case between 1981 and 2000.
Recent extreme weather changes
Just last week in Scotland, police reports came out detailing numerous phone calls from folks complaining about loud bomb-like exploding sounds throughout the night. What was actually occurring is a phenomenon called 'thundersnow' in which thunder and lightning combine with a heavy snowstorm resulting in very loud explosion-like sounds.
These same types of unusual extreme shifts in weather have also been recorded throughout many other parts of the world. As experts suggest, if we do not take climate change more seriously then the consequences will irreparably devastate our planet.
