Bala set New Year’s Eve record temperature say Met Office amid climate change fears

The town of Bala in Gwynedd set the all-time record for the warmest ever New Year’s Eve across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Met Office have said, amid fears about rising temperatures due to climate change.

16.5 C was reached at Bala on 31^st December 2021 which is a New Year’s Eve record for Wales and the other nations in the UK. It beat the previous warmth record of 14.8°C at Colwyn Bay in North Wales, set in 2011.

It was not however the warmest December day on record, which came on 29 December when the highest temperature recorded in the UK was 16.8C.

There was also a new Welsh January daily minimum temperature record, 12.8C, which was recorded in Trawsgoed in Ceredigion. This beats the previous record of 12.5C, set at Gogerddan in 2016.

“The extremely mild spell is driven by a flow of warm, moist air pushing across the UK from the Canary Islands and further south in the Atlantic and has resulted in the unusual situation of one weather system breaking weather records for two days in separate calendar years,” the Met Office said.

Keith Lambkin, Senior Climatologist at Met Éireann, Ireland’s national meteorological service, however said that rising temperatures over Europe “are in line with the average temperature rise we are seeing around the world, due to human-caused climate change”.

“While future temperature projections vary depending on many factors, ‘all’ future projections suggest further warming. This warming, as well as associated defensive actions, is likely to affect everyone in some shape or form,” he said.

The Met Office said that colder weather was due to arrive from the north tomorrow.

Met Office Chief Forecaster, Steve Ramsdale, said: “We’re now past the peak of the high temperatures over the UK of this current spell. Whilst it is expected to stay mild for the rest of the weekend, we are seeing a trend downwards in temperatures with notably colder weather coming into the north from early on Monday.“

“This colder air is expected to push southwards into Tuesday bringing wintry showers and frosts. Wind and snow warnings have now been issued for parts of Scotland associated with this change. This cold spell is temporary before we see a return to weather conditions coming from the Atlantic, bringing further bouts of strong winds and rain to the UK.”