Warmest September on record in Britain

LONDON - Britain looks to have experienced the warmest September on record, with average temperatures beating the 14.7 degrees Celsius recorded in 1949, the Meteorological Office said.

"It certainly looks like the record has been broken," a Met Office spokesman said.

Final confirmation is not expected until tomorrow, but temperatures for the month up to Friday morning had reached an average of 15.4C, 3.1 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.

Minimum night-time temperatures, at 11.5C, also look likely to have passed the previous September record of 10.6C, set in 1949.

The year has already seen other weather records broken as Britain sweltered in a heatwave over the summer.

July was the warmest on record, with temperatures peaking at 36.5C at Wisley in Surrey on July 19.

Such heatwaves occur in Britain approximately every 20 years but Met Office scientists predict that by 2100 they are likely to occur almost every year, and even several times each summer.

They base their forecast on an expected doubling in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the century, which would affect North and South America and east Asia as well as Europe.

- REUTERS