UK temperatures “moved” 205 miles south on average last year - with Slough now as hot as Tarouca, Portugal
April 2023: Round Our Way commissioned research revealed that in 2022 Slough and other British towns were on average as hot as parts of Portugal were between 1990 and 2020.
With the UK experiencing sweltering heat last summer, we worked with a French academic, Thibault Laconde, from Callendar Climate Intelligence to demonstrate that the country’s temperatures “moved” 205 miles (330 km) south on average.
The data shows that towns and cities such as Peterborough, St Albans, Cambridge and Chelmsford recorded temperatures comparable with Tarouca in Portugal between 1990 and 2020 - a staggering 721 miles (1160 km) to the south.
Thibault Laconde, president of Callendar Climate Intelligence, said: “These worrying findings for the UK are mirrored across Europe, with parts of France last year witnessing average temperatures more traditionally found in places in Greece. Climate change like this is having a devastating impact on everything from nature and wildlife to access to water and farmers' ability to grow food."
Elsewhere, Caerphilly in Wales was as hot as Lugo in Spain which is 590 miles (950 km) south - and further north, Lincoln, Pontefract and Liverpool were comparable with towns in Northern France. Up in Scotland, the data shows Stranraer was as warm as Fishguard down in Cornwall.
Alex Steenfeldt, architect at Childs Sulzmann Architects commented: "Historically the UK has focused on designing houses to ensure that warmth is kept in during the colder winter months with little regard to how that same heat will be lost in the warmer summer months. This approach is beginning to cause significant problems with houses overheating.
"By contrast Southern European countries like Portugal and Spain, where the climate is consistently warmer, design their houses in the opposite way – to keep heat out.
"In the UK we may start to see houses having to rely more on energy intensive cooling measures such as air conditioning, which would put additional strain on households that are already struggling with energy bills and would further contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing this climate change.”
Martin Lines is a farmer at Papley Grove Farm in Cambridgeshire, where 2022 temperatures were equal to Tarouca in Portugal between 1990 and 2020. He’s also UK chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network.
He said: “The extremes in temperatures we’ve seen in recent years are making it extremely difficult to grow food. As a nature friendly farm, we rely heavily on birds and pollinators to keep our crops and soil healthy - but the drastic reduction in water in ponds and ditches has meant nature is dying off at a rapid rate. We grow oilseed rape (used to produce vegetable oil) on our farm but we weren’t able to produce any at all last year due to the hot, dry conditions - not great considering there’s already a shortage of oil and prices are already very high in this country.
“Another huge risk is wildfires - we’re now seeing tinder-dry landscapes. I worry my farmland could catch fire in hot conditions and spread to nearby properties. I fear we’re about to experience the dangerous effects of climate change - which will affect everyday people.”
Round Our Way works to highlight the impact climate change is having on British families and to get more working class voices into the climate debate.
Round Our Way’s Director Roger Harding commented: “It’s crazy and a bit scary to think our weather is becoming like parts of Spain and Portugal. We all like a bit of sun, but our homes, local nature, farms and infrastructure aren’t able to cope with temperatures like this. These climate change created warm winters and scorching summers bring with them flash floods, drought and higher food prices when harvests fail. We urgently need politicians to start tackling climate change and its consequences or ordinary people will bear the brunt of it.”
Our research was reported local newspapers and the Daily Mail.