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Extreme Weather Is Now Normal Weather in the UK: Met Office Report

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15 Jul, 2025

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

Extreme heat, excessive rainfall, ongoing droughts — these conditions are now considered the new normal, according to the latest State of the UK Climate report from the UK Met Office.

The report highlights several alarming trends, including warming at the rate of 0.25°C per decade in the UK. The past three consecutive years have ranked within the top five warmest years ever recorded in the UK, with records dating back to 1884. The past decade, from 2015 to 2024, is reported as 1.24 degrees Celsius warmer than the time period from 1961 to 1990.

“Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on. Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago,” Mike Kendon, lead author of the report and Met Office climate scientist, said in a press release.

The #StateOfUKClimate Report shows how the UK’s climate has warmed steadily from 1980s onwards at a rate of approximately 0.25°C per decade

Read the full report 👇

📄 rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/…

[image or embed]

— Met Office – weather and climate (@metoffice.gov.uk) July 14, 2025 at 5:51 AM

“This pace of change and clustering of consecutive records is not a natural variation in our climate,” Kendon added. “Numerous studies have shown how human emissions of greenhouse gases are warming the atmosphere and changing the weather we experience on the ground. Our climate in the UK is now different to what it was just a few decades ago, this is clear from our observations.”

Comparing the past decade to the 1961–1990 time period, the Met Office found that the number of days with temperatures at least 5 degrees Celsius higher than the average from 1961–1990 has doubled. The number of days 8 degrees Celsius warmer has tripled, and the number of days over 10 degrees warmer than the former average has quadrupled.

A vendor shelters her head from the sun on Westminster Bridge as the third heat wave of the year continues with amber health warnings in place in London, England on July 13, 2025. Wiktor Szymanowicz / Anadolu via Getty Images

It’s not just summer weather seeing such shifts. October 2023 through March 2024 was the wettest winter half-year on record, accord to the report. Further, six of the 10 wettest winter half-years in England and Wales have happened since the year 2000 (with records dating back to 1767).

With warmer, weather winter weather comes less frost. According to the Met Office, air and ground frosts are down by about 25% compared to frost levels from the 1980s. The sea level is also rising rapidly in response to climate change, with sea levels around the UK up 19.5 centimeters since 1901.

“We are experiencing more severe weather events in the UK due to climate change,” said Stephen Belcher, Met Office chief scientist. “They are a potent reminder of our responsibility to citizens now, and to future generations, to accelerate efforts to adapt our society and infrastructure to cope with these weather extremes. The climate is likely to continue to change, and so we need to prepare for the impacts that will have on the weather we experience on the ground.”

The report relies on an extensive database of observations from weather stations around the UK and historical data. While the latest report focused on climate in the UK during 2024, Met Office warned that some records are being broken yet again so far in 2025.

As the BBC reported, parts of the UK have been declared in an official drought, and last month was England’s warmest June on record. Parts of the UK are facing the third heat wave of the summer, and flooding risks are increasing. The UK National Assessment of Flood Risk, last published in December 2024, determined that one in four properties in England is at risk of flooding by 2050.

“While long-term averages are shifting, it is the extreme heat, intense rainfall and droughts that are having the most immediate and dramatic effects on people and nature,” Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said of the State of the UK Climate 2024. “This report is not just a record of change, but a call to action.”

A person walks through floodwater at the Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire, England on Nov. 25, 2024. Jordan Pettitt / PA Images via Getty Images

The post Extreme Weather Is Now Normal Weather in the UK: Met Office Report appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Battery life and EV cybersecurity projects receive funding

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Swinburne University of Technology researchers have been awarded close to $920,000 to advance two projects for battery life and EV cybersecurity, securing a portion of over $46 million shared across 75 new projects.

The university received the funding in the latest round of Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage Projects 2024. The scheme, part of the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program, funds research that delivers practical benefits and strengthens Australia’s innovation and industry capabilities.

Swinburne’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Karen Hapgood, said, “These projects demonstrate how our researchers are partnering with industry to deliver practical solutions, from extending the life of battery systems to securing Australia’s electric vehicle infrastructure. It’s a powerful example of how university research is driving innovation and supporting a more sustainable, technologically advanced future.”

The first of the two projects, led by Professor Weixiang Shen, received $449,882 to extend the lifetime of battery energy storage systems for power grids.

“This project will enable my team to develop an innovative control strategy to actively manage the operating conditions of an individual battery cell using digital twin technology. It offers an excellent opportunity to implement and validate our approach in inverter-less battery energy storage systems provided by our industry partner, which uniquely enables cell-level control within the system,” Shen said.

“The project’s outcomes will strengthen Australia’s leadership in advanced energy storage technologies, support the growth of the domestic manufacturing sector, and contribute to the creation of high-skilled jobs.”

Aiming to enhance energy storage performance, the three-year project will develop new strategies to slow battery aging within each cell. It will use digital twin technology, combining deep learning and electrochemical modelling, to predict the impact of operating conditions on battery aging and regulate these conditions to control the aging process and extend battery life.

Working in partnership with Relectrify Pty Ltd, the project team will support Australia’s transition to sustainable energy by delivering longer battery life and reduced downtime so that battery systems can produce more over time.

The second project, led by Professor Yang Xiang, received $474,531 to address cybersecurity challenges in electric vehicle charging stations.

“This grant will allow my team to build advanced cybersecurity tools that address the challenges posed by the interaction between EV charging stations, diverse EVs, the national power grid and wireless communication protocols,” Xiang said.

“It creates a unique opportunity to generate novel research insights, validate solutions in real-world settings, and produce tools with strong commercialisation potential. Its outcomes support sustainable economic growth by enabling the safe uptake of EVs, reducing emissions and creating jobs.”

Electric vehicle charging stations are widely deployed, but they face complex security risks due to the diversity of electric vehicles, their connection to the power grid, and wireless communication with users. The three-year project aims to address these challenges by functionality-guided, update-guided and greybox-guided fuzzing techniques.

Working in partnership with T-POWER Pty Ltd, the project team will explore methods for testing charging stations and developing advanced tools to secure EV infrastructure and improve cybersecurity within Australia’s expanding sustainable transport sector.

Image credit: iStock.com/narvo vexar

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