Oxford average temperature rises 1.5C as hot years increase

It has led to the city being dubbed a 'global hotspot', with hotter years occurring much more frequently and average temperatures rising.

According to new data in a book due out this month, the mean temperature in Oxford since 2000 has been 11.8C, compared to 10.09C in the 20th century and 9.53 °C in the 19th century (between 1814 – and 1900).

Last year was one of the warmest on record, with temperatures 1.6C warmer than the average in the 20th century.

Professor Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at Reading University, has traced temperature records from five of Britain’s longest-running weather stations, including in Oxford, and gave a lecture on the issue this week.

He told the Mail: “This Oxford data is a worrying sign of things to come if we do not take action to tackle climate change. While one city seeing such a significant temperature rise does not mean the Paris Agreement has failed, it makes clear that human-caused carbon emissions are having a real and tangible impact.

"Warmer temperatures for Oxford might not sound alarming, but a warmer world could lead to greater risk to health, infrastructure that isn’t fit for purpose and the destruction of wildlife and the environment.”

As well as Oxford, professor Hawkins has highlighted similar increases in Durham, Sheffield, Armagh and Stornoway.

The news comes amid increasing concern about global warming and the climate crisis.

Oxford, which declared a 'climate emergency' this year, has seen a significant increase in activism on the issue, including three 'school strikes', in which pupils from across the county attempted to draw attention to environmental issues.

The new data comes from a book on Oxford weather, due to be published on May 30, by Stephen and Tim Burt. It traces records back to 1767, six years before the Radcliffe Observatory started daily readings.

Data released to the Mail – since 1814 – shows1989 (11.37C), 1990 and 1999 (both 11.36C) feature in city's top 10 warmest years. But the remaining seven are all warmer, and the top 5 occurred after 2005.

2014 was the warmest, at 11.79 °C.

In contrast, the warmest year between 1814 and 1900 was 10.86C and the most recent year in the top 10 coldest was 1879.

Perhaps equally concerning, though, is the trend of increasing mean temperatures, which show a more than 1.5C increase in 200 years.

That is a significant figure, because at the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, the international community agreed to stop the global temperature rising by any more, compared with mid-19th century levels.

Scientists say exceeding 1.5C warming would have grave consequences for the planet.