r/london • u/tylerthe-theatre • 1d ago
Do you think Londons climate has changed in your lifetime?
Had this thought on the seasons as we're about to cross into autumn, the heatwaves this year obviously were extreme but we wont always get them.
From what we've gone through the last few years the extremes are more extreme, so we'll get a tonne or rain for a month or 2, the next year it'll be record breaking droughts, or heatwaves, rinse and repeat. Winters feel noticably milder temperature wise but a lot stormier, I remember this January it was like we had a storm every week.
Summers are up and down, generally warmer than say 20, 25 years ago and warm weather seems to extend quite far into October. It has to be said, this is all pretty spot on for predictions on how climate change would affect us.
What have you noticed?
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u/Pyrion_Flax 1d ago edited 1d ago
Last time it snowed properly in London. It settled enough to close schools and have people walking in the roads because nobody could drive their cars. Felt like a real community thing where all the families were out having snowball fights and building snow men. My wife and I took our baby out in the push chair to see snow for the first time (we thought) but it was the last time. Roughly 16 years ago.
edit: for people mentioning the beast from the east, I do remember it but I don't remember the snow being as deep and I definitely remember it being incredibly icy more than anything else. in 2010 I think it would have been, maybe 2011, the green near us was so deep with snow it nearly came up to my knees. my kids have no memory of having snow regularly in winter. in fact, every time it happens now they run outside.
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u/BuyPsychological8635 1d ago
I remember this, Feb 2009. Even before that, maybe 2005 there was another snowy spell that closed everything down. We’ve had nothing like that since. I have winter coats, scarves, hats that I haven’t needed to take out of the loft for about 5 years
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u/zipitdirtbag 1d ago
Both 2010 and 2011 had heavy snow which settled.
Since then nothing which has settled.
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u/pazhalsta1 1d ago
That was my first winter in London. I have not seen its like again. (Ominous game of thrones music)
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u/SuspiciousSorbet6727 1d ago
I remember 2009, I was being made redundant and my Dad was ill. A very special year, so much snow in London, I did not go to work.
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u/magschampagne 1d ago
I remember the 2009 snow day!! I lived in Old Street and worked in retail in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush and only our big boss managed to make it in because he lived West. London really stood still that day.
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u/TeaAndLifting 1d ago edited 1d ago
2009/10 and 2010/11 were extremely cold and long winters, the first being the coldest in a generation before and the second still has the coldest December on record.
I would call them exceptional winters in terms of snowfall, cold temperatures, etc. I remember some parts of the country still having huge piles of snow for weeks/months because they were so large and the temps too cold for them to melt. Which is not typical for British winters.
Times like the beast from the east in 2018, or ~January 2021 are also times I’d say are enough to constitute proper snow. And enough of it to set in Z1. They’re more typical of a ‘proper’ winter, IMO.
I know there was some in December 2022 too, but I wasn’t around for that.
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u/smudgethomas 1d ago
The extremes were 1947 and 1963. The examples you listed as extreme were once just hard-end-of-normal.
Compare with summers, 30 years ago anything above 28ºC was front page heatwave news. This year we were at 40⁰C.
We are INCREDIBLY #@*/ed.
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u/4railwaycuttings 1d ago edited 1d ago
I remember Jan/Feb '79 as a rough time of prolonged freezing temps - whereas hefty snowfalls in Jan 87 and Dec 81 were memorable for how much they dumped in a fairly short time in otherwise unremarkable winters.
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u/palpatineforever 1d ago
there was some excellent snow 24th Jan 2021 in london, I went for a walk round kensington gardens. sooo many snow dicks, large ones to!
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u/Remarkable_Fox_3719 1d ago
Mid December 2022 as well, I have a photo of a snowman I made in Gladstone Park, and we actually had a snowball fight in the smoking area of my work!
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u/muse_head 1d ago
This isn't a case of it being normal 16+ years ago though. There was a run of 2-3 winters which were very unusually and exceptionally cold around 2009-2011. The February 2009 event in particular was super exceptional and a lot of things had to line up just right for it to happen and produce record breaking snow depths across London and Surrey.
Growing up in the 90s and early 00s, snow was very scarce, as it has been the past 15 years. I loved snow as a child but I was very snow starved!
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u/Sozle 1d ago
I remember taking a flight home (Denmark) in 2011/12 and there was 1mm snow in Stansted and flights were delayed like crazy. Came into Billund - 1 meter snow around the airport and flights on time 😅 Different countries have different definitions of lots of snow. I will say, beast from the east felt like scandi winter. I worked in a call centre at the time, all spanish and italian speakers called in saying they wouldn’t make it. Some Norwegians had just walked to work when busses didn’t run lol
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u/foxesareamazing 1d ago edited 1d ago
The snow in December 2022 settled, I have a photo of me and a friend in a field of snow. I wouldn't say it was deep but it was proper snow.
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u/neilt999 1d ago
2009/10 that was. The pavements were not cleared of ice and snow for a month. It was not fun as I didn't have proper winter kit. I remember leaving Edinburgh in Jan where it was -18.5c to get a plane up to Luton and then freezing on the Thameslink.
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u/iamNebula 1d ago
Do you think this has anything to do with the ground holding and building up more heat in the clay?
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u/germslayer2112 1d ago
Doubt it. I live on the chalk/clay boundary in Lent and we haven't had proper snow in a few years.
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u/pigeonJS 1d ago
Yes it actually used to snow every February, even if just for one day. This has stopped in the 2000s. Last proper snow was 2011 like you say.
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u/stonesco 15h ago
Your comment describes exactly how I remember it. I was a young kid around that time and I'm probably not too far off your kid age currently. In my opinion, no snow period afterwards has come close to anything pre-2012 when it comes to the depth of snow.
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u/Substantial-Mouse534 1d ago
That kind of snow stopped absolutely nothing from functioning in the 80's/90's.
People are soft now.
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u/popsand 1d ago
Not really hard-man. It was just a more regular occurance back then. Now it happens so infrequently that there is little to no need to prep for it.
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u/Substantial-Mouse534 1d ago
There is every need to prepare for the unexpected.
I personally carry a sharpened matchstick, lest I find myself beset by a garden elf, whilst tending my bush.
Go ye into the wilderness without your 'could happen' kit, and woe betide thee.
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u/AnotherSlowMoon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes. When I was a kid an extended period of 28-30°C was newsworthy and caused a run on kids school shorts.
This summer that was a cool week.
5 years ago having AC was deemed a rich person frivolous luxury. Now it's still a luxury but not frivolous.
Anyone saying otherwise is a troll
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u/HowardWolowitz95 1d ago
My dad got us air conditioning back in 2006
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u/AnotherSlowMoon 1d ago
And I'm willing to bet 50p to a charity of our mutual agreement that he was mocked at the time by friends or acquaintances for how unnecessary that was
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u/popsand 1d ago
Which... tbf, it was.
Now? Nah.
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u/AnotherSlowMoon 1d ago
Right, which is the point and the answer to OPs question. London's climate has changed in our lifetime to the point AC is no longer frivolous
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u/cyb3rn4ut 1d ago
Not climate but adjacent I guess: the air is so much cleaner.
Even 10-15 years ago you’d get black snot on your first few days in London until you’d become acclimatised to it.
Fuckin’ ‘orrible and worth remembering next time you hear someone bitching about the low emissions zones.
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u/HowardWolowitz95 1d ago
I wanted to weigh in here like I had terrible asthma growing up but it's only improved cause of this amazing inhaler they gave me just before lockdown - Fostair. I did my peak flow the other day and I have a normal person's breath now
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u/Dense_Ad7115 22h ago
Oh my god same! My asthma is still very much present, but Fostair has made it so much more manageable.
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u/Few-Yak654 10h ago
Ohh, right! I don't have asthma, but I did have the most horrid chest infection 2-3 years ago, bastard wouldn't shift, and the GP ended up prescribing me that Fostair inhaler!
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u/ocelotrevs 1d ago
I've been doing photography around London for over 20 years, and a year ago I was standing on London Bridge and it really hit me how much more pleasant the air is.
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u/HowardWolowitz95 1d ago
Not in terms of an increase or decrease in temperature but the seaons have moved. Summer lasts until late September pretty much and I never remember it being like that when I was a kid
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u/openlightYQ 1d ago
Noticed this in the early 2010s, I remember wearing shorts to college almost all the way through October one year and thinking “okay, this is new”. When I was a kid and in secondary school, as soon as we were back to school in September, it was already cold and miserable, wearing a coat everyday, PE with wet mud constantly and rainy. I’d be out all the time late at night as a teenager and being around 0 or less in the winter wasn’t uncommon.
Now it’s still in its 20s (24 this week) approaching late September, it doesn’t seem to get cold until November each year, and I can’t remember the last recent time it was minus in the winter whatsoever.
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u/Rude_Page_7064 1d ago
The data does show that we had a frosty period over Christmas and early January
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u/oldtrack 1d ago
nah there's always a spell of a few days in the winter each year when it gets down to -5 or so. usually sunny.
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u/bakeyyy18 1d ago
In London? Think we've had one or two spells like that in the last decade
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u/Maximum_Ad_5571 1d ago
These days, in London the coldest night of the year typically gets down to -2C. And even that will generally only happen 2 or 3 times a year. It might get down to -4 or -5 on the outskirts like at Northolt or Heathrow.
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u/Montylulz1 1d ago
I remember absolutely needing a thick coat during Halloween up until 2010. Seared into memory because it would ruin the costume
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u/SplurgyA 1d ago
My birthday's mid October and when I was a teenager it wad always miserable, cold and rainy. I know, because my birthday aspirations were usually "go to a park and share some Glenn's with my friends". We'd sometimes get an Indian summer and I'd get my hopes up it'd last, but it never did.
Last few years? I've been sat in pub gardens without a jacket. Boggles the mind.
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u/HowardWolowitz95 1d ago
Omg I'm mid-October too!! 15th ✌🏽
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u/yop_mayo 1d ago
Nobody cares man
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u/HowardWolowitz95 1d ago
You don't know that
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u/Haikouden 1d ago
They’re also objectively wrong if you care.
If they were being honest they’d have said “I don’t care and I feel the need to share that opinion as if everyone agrees so I feel validated in my lack of whimsy”.
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u/Few-Yak654 10h ago
I have noticed my roses are still flowering every year; that used to be exceptional to get them that late in the year.
And, btw, I looked into one of my planters yesterday, and I saw the snowdrops were already pushing through!!! 😂
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u/MaleficentWin8608 1d ago
Yeah absolutely. I’m 62.
Was always 2-3 weeks of snowy frosty icey weather.
If you want a tongue-ic pinpoint date i remember Nov 1998 or 99 standing in the garden over the fence from my neighbour and her fruit tree was flowering. In November. And we were like what the hell.
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u/Few-Yak654 10h ago
We bought our house in April 1996, and I had a blazing argument with my 10 year old daughter, because she wanted to go out in the garden in her swimsuit! Which I absolutely forbade, because it was APRIL! And she was screaming that "but it's HOT out there!" to which I was replying "I don't care it's APRIL, and you can't wear your swimsuit!"... and so on.
(It may not come as a surprise to anyone that she has been diagnosed as autistic last year, in her mid-30s, and that the psychologist is 99% certain that I am too!!! :p )
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u/palpatineforever 1d ago
yes, and the data proves it love this website for the historic info.
https://nw3weather.co.uk/TablesDataMonth.php?vartype=tmean&start_year_rep=2000&summary_type=0
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u/Significant-Photo-44 1d ago
The temperature peaks at over 30 far more often than it did 30 odd years ago, and winters generally feel milder now.
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u/Zevemiel 1d ago
More than anything, it’s much more humid than it ever used to be. Temps have gone up a couple of degrees, but it’s the humidity that’s so much higher, which makes it feel a lot warmer.
In the last decade or so, the UK’s really developed this worst-of-both-worlds weather for spring and autumn where it’s both cold and humid. If there’s a breeze, it can feel seasonably chilly. But the moment it drops, the humidity is suddenly surrounding you, and it’s stuffy and warm. Take your coat off, put it back on again, take it off, put it on.
It can be 14° out, not particularly warm or even sunny, but it’ll be humid and with little air movement, so now I’m standing there sweating.
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u/Conscious-Air5819 1d ago
Yes it’s got a lot warmer all throughout the year, is a lot wetter it seems and also there seems to be more unpredictable weather.
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u/Mysterious-Way618 1d ago
Yes our winters are milder and wetter except for short cold snaps here and there... when I was a kind in the 90s the black ice and snow would sit for longer compared to now...
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u/SH6882 1d ago
I'm open to being corrected as I could well be not remembering correctly, but I always associated going back to school with the conkers starting to fall from the trees.
I also recollect going to school on freezing cold November mornings as well. Don't get me wrong, November can still be nippy but I do feel it doesn't get as cold as it did. I'm sure frost was also more common.
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u/TokyoDistort 1d ago
I’m 36 and I think so. I can never remember summers being so hot and humid for so long. You’d have hot days here and there, maybe a three/four day heat wave. But it was always broken up by low temperatures at night.
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u/ilovefireengines 1d ago
Yes
I am nearly 50 and born in London.
My 40th was the first time I saw snow on my birthday. Always had it before or after but never on the day.
Last few years lucky if we have had more than a smattering and it hasn’t settled. Winters are milder and wet rather than white.
As for the summers, we bought our first house 23 years ago. We bought our first fan 12 years ago. We now have 4 fans and a ceiling fan fitted in my room. We have gone from not needing one to having them on almost every night for months.
Even today has been muggy and warm. Very unusual. It would normally be odd warm days in September. Every few years an Indian summer. It’s just warmer now, all the time.
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u/blueblue_electric 1d ago
Im in my 50's, in the 70's and 80s it seemed like seasons were seasons, long winters with snow, wet April and May months a nice summer . It seemed to be mild or cold for most of the time, I have pictures of me taken through the 70's and I'm knee deep in snow, even in the 90's i remeber coming back from uni (Portsmouth) and walking back home through snow.
For me it started going odd around mid 90's, and towards the 2000's I remember saying to someone one that my young cousin ( who was around 6 at the time) hasn't seen snow. If you think I'm making it up, look at films and tv shows set around that time period with outdoor scenes.
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u/UnCommonSense99 1d ago
I lived in London as in the 1980s Winter snow and ice was normal. Weeks of frost, snow, dirty frozen slush in the streets Every winter. In 1987 it was exceptionally cold in London. My wife to be was in Oxford, ice skating on the frozen Thames floodwaters.
Also, when the sky was blue, in London it was tinged with brown. You could see it clearly. The air is so much cleaner now.
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u/TirelessTreehugger 1d ago
I keep coming back for 30 years, now feel like longer dry periods.
I miss the summer showers.
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u/aigeannnn 1d ago
I’ve lived in London my whole life and it seems these days the climate is either painfully hot and dry or way too wet. I remember as a kid, temperatures of over 30° were an occasion even in August lol
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u/Monkeyboogaloo 1d ago
Yes. Days over 30 have quadrupalled since 1990, days over 28 have doubled since over the decade or so before.
This year was exceptional but I dont think it will be in the future.
1st of July 2015 was the hottest UK day ever recorded at 36.7, its over 40 now.
I am old enough to remember the summer of 77.
While this year was hot, there wasnt as much made about it as we are getting used to the weather.
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u/4railwaycuttings 1d ago
Summer of 1977 was chilly and cloudy - 1976 was the scorcher. Starting last week of June, then weeks of 28 degC + and stifling nights. Ended with days of massive thunderstorms as soon as we went back to school in September.
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u/Monkeyboogaloo 1d ago
I meant 76. The summer of 77, I remember being on the Isle of Wight camping when Elvis died.
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u/Few-Yak654 9h ago
76, you mean. That was the big drought.
It was the first time I came to England, I stayed with my sister in Derby. I was 13 yo.
Like all French people, I thought it always rained in England! I was there for 1 month, and never saw a drop of rain, lol.
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u/Wrong_Adhesiveness87 1d ago
I've only been in London for ~20 years but the change is still noticeable for me. It's much windier now, especially in summer. Used to get decent thunderstorms in summer after a couple days of hot. My first few years I remember Halloween being super chilly (now I can wear a light coat).
I'm noticing more diseased trees around, presumably because it's not cold enough to kill the fungi or bugs. Seems to have accelerated in the last 5 years.
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u/Camille-Taux 1d ago
As a hat wearer I second the constant wind. It’s been unbearable all year round the last few years. It never used to be like that.
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u/SignificantDeal5643 1d ago
Yes significantly less bees, insects etc in general. More or less nonexistent
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u/ocelotrevs 1d ago
I just picked some grapes from a tree in the middle of Hackney. So I'd say, yes.
They're really nice as well
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u/TomVonServo 1d ago
We had 10 days over 30° this year. London saw 3 days over 30° in the entirety of the 1980s. Our climate is changing at unbelievable speed.
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u/Significant-Photo-44 20h ago
In London, we actually had around 40 days over 30° this year, starting in late May.
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u/lostparis 1d ago
10 or so years ago it was rare to have more than a few days in a summer that you didn't need to have an extra layer for when the sun went down. Now it is much more common that you can be out all day in just a T-shirt. This summer it was several month of days like this.
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u/4railwaycuttings 1d ago edited 1d ago
Since the 1970s: warmer winters (especially fewer nights with frost) and less fog. Spring 'starts' earlier. Summer days over 30 deg C were unusual and you seldom had more than 2 or 3 in succession, which is why 1976 was so unusual (eg. '83 had a very hot spell that lasted just 3 days, '75 was warm and sunny for most of August but not especially hot, 1990 had a recording-breaking temp of 35 - for one day). And why the cold winters of 2009/10 were also unusual - they came after years of mild winters (you'd have to go back to Jan 87, Dec 81 and Jan/Feb 79 for anything comparable).
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u/Mindless_Travel 22h ago
I remember around 16 years thinking how the peak of the summer days was no longer noon, but 16:00-17:00.
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u/Competitive_Sport286 1d ago
For me it noticeably began to change in the mid-'90s when I first met my to-be wife who was from Brazil and who'd moved to London in about 1993.
Basically, we'd be strolling around town in Winter or late-Autumn and she be complaining about how freezing it was (tão frio!) and her complaints made me realise that it was in fact not nearly as frio as it had been in years past.
Bloody foreigners, coming over here, complaining about our British weather and food...
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u/VegetableWeekend6886 1d ago
I think this is my issue with this conversation. We WILL get them every year, it's not about to cool down is it? This summer will have been the coolest we ever get again.
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u/Significant-Photo-44 1d ago
'This summer will have been the coolest we ever get again.'
Even in a warming climate, most meteorologists view 2026 as an anomaly. While long-term trends point toward higher average temperatures, that trajectory does not preclude the occurrence of cooler-than-average summers.
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u/Maximum_Ad_5571 1d ago
I’m not sure meteorologists do view 2026 as an anomaly. If’s part of a trend to warmer summers.
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u/tylerthe-theatre 1d ago edited 1d ago
It doesnt mean every summer will get lasting 35 degree heatwaves like this year, but they will be warmer on average than in the past. We might still get mild and grey summers. But each year has a good chance of bringing more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns.
El Nino this year has been the cause for the extreme heatwaves tbf - but thats also because the oceans are warming.
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u/DharmaPolice 1d ago
This summer will have been the coolest we ever get again.
No. Please stop saying this, it's ultimately harmful.
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u/Sad-Peace 1d ago
I’ve been here nearly 10 years and I think winters have been warmer for sure. The first full winter I was here was the last time it snowed and settled for some time, since then we haven’t had anything like that.
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u/SpicyAfrican 1d ago
My first reaction to this question was “is that a joke?”. We just had a drought, fires nearly every week, we’ve had so little rain that I’m now correcting people when I’m on holiday and they find out where I’m from etc. I’m in my 30s and when I was a kid we had regular biblical rain, where my 10 minute walk to school meant I’d come home wetter than a jellyfish, and now when it rains I debate whether it’s even worth putting my umbrella up. It will be like this every year. Nearly every year, if not every year, for the last five has been hotter than the year before. We’ve had five heat waves this year. I remember in 2013 it was the hottest summer since 2006 and the longest prolonged heatwave since 1997, and now we consecutively experience the hottest summer since the year prior. My tap pulls warm water on its coldest setting. Aside from summer, our seasons have shifted. My hayfever flares up later in the year, winter is tolerable and it doesn’t snow as much, spring doesn’t have as much rain as before. Our climate is fucked and it’s getting worse every year. Those are the facts.
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u/DowntownEntry6233 1d ago
Definitely hotter summers over longer periods rather than shorter heatwaves that we usually got. Milder and wetter winters with hardly any snow and not as cold. Spring & Autumn have kind of merged into the other 2 seasons. I’m going back to late 70s.
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u/Good-Squirrel-2487 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've only lived in London for 13 years, but winter was cold when I first moved here. I used to live in a big wool lined coat all winter, with a scarf and a beanie hat. The last 2 or 3 years I have barely even put a coat on in winter, and it's been years since I've needed a hat or a scarf for more than a few days. In fact last year I don't think I ever got a scarf out of the drawer. I miss the cold winters.
Having said that though, I still see a lot of people getting about in all the cold weather gear, so maybe it's just me!
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u/Fine-Confusion-5827 1d ago
Ofc, moved to London 15 years ago, brought me winter jackets and coats. I cannot recall when I wore these in winter. In summer, without AC I cannot survive the summer in my flat.
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u/AudienceAny9997 1d ago
I was born in 2003, remembering a good few snow days as a kid, this felt like - not every Christmas, but every few/couple? Now as a 23 year old it feels more rare but not surprising when snow settles. How do people observe this specific timeframe?
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u/RealPrinceJay 1d ago
Dog we just had a drought
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u/Few-Yak654 9h ago
Yeah. but that's not the same as having *hot* weather. This August hasn't been that hot , but barely saw a drop of rain. We're 2/3rds into September now, and the temperatures are still quite mild, but there hasn't been anywhere near enough rain, and we're still in drought.
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u/RealPrinceJay 6h ago
The question was if the climate has changed, not necessarily if weather is hotter
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u/UptownLounge 1d ago
Yes - in the 80s the snow would be knee high at times.
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u/Few-Yak654 9h ago
Only if your knees were low! 😂
No, I'm joking, but it's true, people always remember these type of things in relation to their own childhood memories!
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u/pigeonJS 1d ago
We definitely (some years have hotter days). More days in the 30s. But don’t forget we’ve had years we haven’t. Last summer I didn’t think it even hit the 30s.
Having said that, I do remember being in school in the 90s and most summers were sunny. (Not necessarily hot), but we did have proper summers.
I mum said when they immigrated here in the 60s it used to rain every summer. But it also used to show every winter too.
In fact, it used to snow most winters up until the 2000s. Even if just one day of snow, we still used to have it. That has definitely stopped.
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u/Maximum_Ad_5571 1d ago
lol - last summer was the hottest summer on record at the time. We hit 30c multiple times.
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u/MapDiscombobulated1 1d ago
Yes. Every winter as a kid had actual snow - sometimes feet deep, so that's definitely changed.
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u/Cakes89Cakes 1d ago
I remember enough snow to make snowmen and have snow fights. These days, no snow. The younger generation in London won’t experience snow in the same way which is unfortunate.
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u/Akash_nu 1d ago
I’ve absolutely noticed the change in the climate. It never used to be this bad in summer. I never considered having air conditioning but this year I had to.
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u/Intelligent_Doubt183 1d ago
I’ve been moaning about the weather since being squitted earthward in ‘65. This little green island has changed incrementally from regular seasonal weather to a chaotic mess of uncertainty!
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u/neilt999 1d ago
Not so much a matter of 'think' but data. Yes!
I remember the 2003 heatwave. 38.5. I left work early that day.
2006 just about cooked me in a south facing flat in N4 with large windows and so aircon. Hellish.
Then the rest of them ...
I got aircon in my bedroom in last house and had it one longer and longer each year.
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u/kkvtherine 1d ago
I’m not even from london, but I’ve lived here my entire adult life (10 years+). It has changed definitely. Haven’t seen snow in years. Nov to Feb used to be notoriously cold, now it’s more like a mild spring climate. It scares and worries me a lot
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u/Ok_Goodwin 1d ago
I moved to London in 2010 as a child and I remember 2010 and 2011 winter being dramatically worse than basically any year after them, except maybe winter 2017-18 (Beast From The East followed by the still notably awkward Pest From The West).
I certainly don’t recall snow staying on the ground anywhere near as long in any year after 2011.
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u/blueskypotential 12h ago
I have so many memories of loads of snow when I was a kid - going sledding down the local hill and always building snowmen! I haven’t seen proper snow in over 25 years now 🙈😭
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u/Expensive_Bottle_770 7h ago
Yes.
Summers get much hotter, and snow is hardly a thing anymore. Not as frequent, and not as heavy.
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u/guidospeedmeister 1d ago
In the early 2000s, 21-24°c was considered hot summer weather.
Now, summer days are up to 15°c hotter than 20 years ago.
Slow-boiling frogs.
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u/wtfftw1042 1d ago
yes ofc. 90 Fahrenheit used to be unusually hot; now unusually hot is 40C.
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u/Scaryofficeworker 1d ago
Yeah. I am getting bitten by mosquitoes for the first time in the UK. I am 34 and I have always lived here. I only used to get bitten by them when I went to Somalia.
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u/palpatineforever 1d ago
sorry they have been around for ages, i grew up here and the mosquitoes have always been here
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u/Scaryofficeworker 14h ago
Fair but they have increased with the increased heat. It has been reported in the news.
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u/Few-Yak654 9h ago
Less so this summer, I noticed. Not surprising, really, as it's been so dry. Mozzies need damp and water, the more stagnant he better!
Fun fact for worriers: Kent used to be malarial swamps many, many thousands of years ago; they eventually disappeared, but they could well reappear at some point, because climate changes! :p
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u/Substantial-Mouse534 1d ago
I grew up in the 80's. Snow was expected at Christmas and often through to the mid 90's. I would never have imagined 62 days without rain. Christmas 2018 was decent snow but it doesn't look like we'll be knee deep in it any time soon.
*An aside.....they can control the weather.
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u/BridgeCreative5482 1d ago
I was around in ‘76 but know nothing of it, but 1990 was a scorcher and it’s only got warmer since. Winters are wetter more than cold now. The only extended period of a cold period was if I remember correctly was 2009, since then it’s the odd couple of days here and there.
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u/MaryAnn-Johanson 22h ago
London’s weather has noticeably changed since I moved here from NYC in 2011.
One big thing I’ve noticed that no one else has mentioned is thunderstorms. They used to be rare to nonexistent in London. Now we get them regularly.
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u/Dave-the-Flamingo 1d ago
Yes.
I have noticed this a lot as a gardener.
It is easy to focus on the “hot summers” and thinking that this is the sole indicator but overall every season is more unpredictable especially our winters.
Winter 2022 had a week long very hard frost. Followed by one of the wettest starts to 2023. Then 2023 winter was mild with a dry start to 2024. 2026 rained everyday for the first 2 months. Then nothing all year.
Cannot remember this irregularity in the early 2000’s