Heat wave weather forecast for 2050 could come true in UK next week, 28 years ago | environment

At the time, the charts indicated that this was not a true prediction. In the upper right corner of the hypothetical forecast is written “Examples of plausible weather based on weather forecasts”. However, this estimate can be confirmed next Monday (18) with an advance of 28 years.

• Heat wave in Europe: Countries face wildfires, record temperatures and pollution
• Spain is experiencing its second heat wave of the year and temperatures are reaching 43°C

Simon Lee, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University in New York, noticed this similarity. “In 2020, the Met Office produced a hypothetical weather forecast for 23 July 2050 based on UK climate projections. Today, the forecast for Tuesday is surprisingly almost the same for most of the country,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

The forecast for next week is unprecedented, with a maximum of 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Until then, 38.7ºC at Cambridge Botanic Gardens in 2019.

This prospect led to a red alert due to a heat wave, something that had never happened before. In an official statement on the weather service’s website, Met Office climate scientist Dr. Nikos Christidis says:

“We hoped that this situation should not come to this. […] In a recent study, we found that the likelihood of extremely hot days in England has increased and will continue to increase throughout the century, with the south-east of England expected to see the hottest temperatures.”