WIREDGOV

New tool shows what climate change might look like in your area.

Met Office Hadley Centre scientists have been working with BBC data journalists to develop a new interactive visualisation tool to show how climate change might impact the weather you see in your area in coming decades.

For the first time historical observations and detailed projections have been brought together to show the impact of climate change in people’s local area. By entering your postcode, you can see how temperatures and rainfall may change as a result of climate change in your part of the UK.

Chief Scientist Stephen Belcher, said “It’s all very well us scientists talking about projections and model outputs, but it is really important to illustrate what climate change might mean for people and the weather they could experience. We’ve been working hard with the BBC to develop a tool that is scientifically robust but also gives people a simple overview of climate change impacts in their area.”

The interactive tool uses a mix of Met Office National Climate Information Centre observations with projection data from the UK Climate Projections. Generally, projections show that the UK will experience warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. But this new tool now allows people to easily see what could happen at a more local level in their area.

Dr Mark McCarthy, head of the National Climate Information Centre, yesterday said:

“This approach of bringing historical observations together with the latest climate projections really puts future extremes into context. We’ve seen a raft of record-breaking weather over the past few years, and when you put that side by side with the projections it really brings to life what the weather could look like if we don’t significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Using a peer reviewed and scientifically robust methodology, this tool provides a simple to use yet highly credible source of climate change information for the public. However, specialist and professional users of climate change projection data should continue to use the dedicated UKCP18 portal.