A new tool shows how climate change might impact Wirral.
Met Office 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.
The tool shows that on Wirral temperatures in summer could hit nearly 40C and winters could get wetter and warmer.
This means that snow in the winter would be a distant memory and with more rain in the future forecasts this would result in more floods.
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.”
Here’s how climate change may impact Wirral in the years to come:
Summer
The hottest summer day of the past 30 years near you was 33.3C.
If global average temperatures increase 2C above pre-industrial levels, the hottest summer day could be about 34.7C.
If global temperatures rise by 4C, it could be about 38.3C.
In the past 30 summers, there were 2 days above 25C per month on average.
If global temperatures rise by 2C, there could be 3 days. With a 4C rise, there could be 8 days.
In the past 30 years, there were 11 rainy days on average per month in summer.
If global average temperatures rise by 2C, this could be 10 days per month. At a 4C rise it could be about 8 days.
On the wettest summer day of the past 30 years, 43mm of rain fell in your area.
At a 2C rise, this could be about 50mm. And at a 4C rise, it could be about 49mm, which is 14% more than now.
Winter
The warmest winter day of the past 30 years near you was 18.7C.
If global average temperatures increase 2C above pre-industrial levels, the warmest winter day could be about 18.5C.
If global temperatures rise by 4C, it could be about 20.2C.
On the wettest winter day of the past 30 years, 28mm of rain fell in your area.
At a 2C rise, this could be about 34mm. And a 4C rise, it could be about 37mm, which is 31% more than now.
