Britain has enjoyed the warmest period from January to July on record, the Met Office announced yesterday, as scientists warned that wearing sun cream in the sea could start a lethal chain reaction in the ocean’s food chains.
The past eight months have been both the hottest and the third wettest since the forecaster started keeping weather records in 1910. One climate expert said the figures showed that global warming was making its presence felt in the UK.
Bob Ward, policy and communications director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said: “This should increase the urgency [for] UK politicians to join international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take measures to make us more resilient, such as boosting flood defences.”
The Met Office predicts that most of Britain will get at least a glimpse of the sun tomorrow, with a few showers in the east.
Martin Young, its chief meteorologist, said that there would be a “good deal” of sunshine over the weekend. “It is likely that Sunday will have the best of the dry and bright weather, with rain and brisk winds affecting many places on Monday,” he said.
Researchers at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Spain have claimed that titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, ingredients in most sun-blocking products, are a danger to marine life.
The compounds react with water to form hydrogen peroxide and other chemicals that harm the microscopic algae on which much of the sea’s ecosystem depends, they wrote in Environmental Science & Technology.
This may not deter the 4 million Britons who are expected to take a holiday in the UK this weekend, according to VisitEngland.
The Caravan Club, that great barometer of British self-confidence, said that the good weather over the past few months had led to 55,000 more bookings at its 2,700 sites this year than last.
Research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance found that taxes on foreign travel netted the Treasury £50 per person — a total of £1.9 billion.
