In another hot year, despite coronavirus lockdowns, leading to an unprecedented drop in Carbon Emissions. I am here at londons National Maritime museum, where i will be Walking Around a world of records, from another remarkable year of weather. And im in bbc weathers climate check studio reporting on 2020s record breaking Hurricane Season and looking at the Climate Trends that could change our weather in 2021. Also on weather world, as wet as it gets as the uk and deals two of its top three wettest days on record, how a warmer world could also mean a wetter one. And oscar and i are back with more tips on how you can record your own weather at home. This time, we want to get an accurate reading with a thermometer. Welcome to weather world, from londons National Maritime museum, a Museum Dedicated to britains seafaring heritage. Thats basically sailing versus the weather. It is the Largest Museum of its kind in the world. A world, of course, that in 2020 seemed so very different because of coronavirus, masks and all. And the pandemic has severely limited our ability to travel and experience the weather beyond our own backyard which is why ive come here, to their great map of the world, where i can at least do some virtual globe trekking to bring you some of 2020s weather highs and lows. Spoiler alert, when it comes to heat, there are more highs than lows. Our starting point is in north america in phoenix, arizona, which set a new record injuly for its hottest month on record, and then broke it straightaway again in august, and set another record for the number of days above 110 fahrenheit that is 43. 3 celsius, 53 in total. The previous record was 33. That is shattering a record. In europe, france set a record for the number of consecutive months with above average temperatures. And in jerusalem, 42. 3 celsius in september, its never been recorded any hotter here. Japan, in august, 41. 1 celsius, that ties National Record here, a record first set back in 2018. It is notjust those high temperatures by day which are contributing to the warming world, it is when it is not cold enough at night. For example in australia, sydney in november with a record warm night, where the temperature did not go lower than 25. 4 celsius. There are some cold weather records too. It was cold in parts of the usa in october. But the cold records are heavily outnumbered by the hot ones. And even where you expect it to be cold, well, it is simply not cold enough. In february, news of heat from antarctica, a temperature above 20 celsius recorded there for the first time, perhaps an outlier, but the longer trend is clear. The World MeteorologicalOrganization Says temperatures on the antarctic peninsula have risen by almost three degrees over the past 50 years. Meanwhile, in the arctic, more worrying data in 2020, with the Second Lowest extent of summer sea ice since satellite monitoring began over 40 years ago. Followed by a record late start to its annual refreeze. But if news of heat records sounds familiar, they came in a year that because of covid lockdowns, we saw a record drop in Carbon Emissions the very thing which is blamed for playing a major role in causing temperatures to warm. We can talk now to dr emily shugborough, Cambridge Universitys chief climate scientist. Emily, we spoke on this programme at the end of 2019, actually, about Carbon Emissions, and it seemed impossible that we would get a drop, but that is what has happened in 2020, but put it into context for me, how significant and sustainable is that . Well, it is probably no surprise that as a consequence of the global lockdowns that we have seen around the world, emissions are likely to be somewhat lower this year, may be about 7 lower. But that is emissions. The concentrations of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere are still rising rapidly. If we look back at earths history, the last time concentrations were so high was about 3 million to 5 million years ago, when temperatures were 2 3 degrees celsius warmer than they are today, and the seas were some 10 20 metres higher. 2020 is likely to be the hottest or second hottest year globally, what stands out for you in 2020 in terms of heat trends . We have seen places around the world with exceptional heat, california was particularly warm. And that was associated with wildfires that caused absolute devastation. We also saw devastating wildfires in australia at the start of the year, and sadly, those look set to return. Sydneyjust recorded its hottest november on record. But its notjust been heat waves, wildfires, that weve seen, we have also seen devastating flooding. When it comes to attributing that to Climate Change, i mean, there is natural variability as well, how difficult is that or is it more clear cut . Climate change is increasing the risk of those sorts of extreme weather events. We cant say a particular extreme weather event was caused by Climate Change as such, but as the temperatures rise, the risk of having extreme heat waves increases, and also, the risk of other extreme weather events similarly increases. In terms of heat, the poles seem to be suffering the most. Why does that matter so much . As the ice melts, it finds its way into the oceans, and it raises sea levels globally. And we are seeing an accelerated rate of loss of ice from the ice sheets and an acceleration in sea level rising. Emily, for now, thank you, we will talk to you later about what we might expect in 2021. Even the places you would not think could get any hotter did in 2020, like here in the usa, the infamous death valley in california, where the temperature hit 54. 4 celsius. That could be the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on earth. But what does heat like that actually feel like . We asked brandy stuart, who works in Death Valley National park. It does feel like you are opening a door to an oven. All of our buildings in the park are air conditioned, so it is nice inside, but really, any time i open up the door from my house in the morning to go outside, you canjust feel the heat on your face immediately. Heat seekers, i think theyjust want to feel what could be the hottest reliable recorded temperature on earth. Just to have that experience, also, to see the heat rising from the asphalt on the roads, everything is radiating heat. So, a lot of our hottest summers have been within the last five years. And so, that is a concerning data point that we are seeing hotter and hotter summers, and that can still have effects in Death Valley National park, and it can have effects on the plants, animals and people that live there. Brandy stuart from death valley, where you expect it to be hot, but now to the notjust unexpected, but unprecedented. Let me walk across to africa and take you to a country, somalia, here on the horn of africa, which since reliable records began, has not been hit by a hurricane strength cyclone. But all of that changed in november. Cyclone gatti underwent explosive intensification as it moved into somalia from the arabian sea, bringing not only destructive winds but a years worth of rain in just two days. Cyclones are the same type of storm as typhoons and hurricanes, and when hurricane hanna made landfall in texas injuly, it was the first of a record equalling six hurricanes to hit the usa in an extraordinary 2020 atlantic season. Sarah has that story. Thanks, nick. The 2020 atlantic Hurricane Season was like no other. We have not got time to go through every record it broke because there were so many storms exceeding all forecast expectations. Not only a record total of storms, but the majority being the earliest on record for their number. These are the storms that developed just in september, a record ten in total. And in september, the list of preplanned storm names ran out, which meant meteorologists had to start using the greek alphabet for only the second time to find new storm names. This hurricane eita hit Central America in november and it was a record equalling 28th named storm of the season, bringing severe flooding to honduras. And to guatemala, where more than 150 people died in floods and landslides. After, storm theta took the season to a record 29 storms. Central america was in the eye of a hurricane again, as iota became only the second maximum category five storm ever recorded in november. And although it weakened slightly before making landfall in nicaragua, the destruction it brought was widespread and devastating. There it goes. And of the 12 storms to hit the usa, hurricane laura in august was the strongest in the state of louisiana in at least 160 years. So, what is the weather science that can explain such an active Hurricane Season . Thats a question i put to a professor of geosciences at the university of south florida. First of all, we have to look at some of the large scale time circulations that have been going on. So, the atlantic multi decayed oscillation, this is in a positive phase, it has been since about 1995, and a positive phase of the amo tends to bring warmer sea surface temperatures, which are conducive for hurricanes, and so, we have a positive phase of the amo, but superimposed on that, also this year, we also have a moderate la nina. Well, we will be talking about la nina later in the programme, but what is its influence on hurricanes . Well, when you have la nina, you tend to get weaker upper level winds, we tend to get lower wind shear because of that, and that is conducive for these hurricanes to form. So, with warm sea surface temperatures that we have had this year, lower vertical wind shear, that has really provided the right breeding grounds to provide this record breaking Hurricane Season. Is it possible to say with any certainty what effect Climate Change might be having on hurricanes . When we talk about Climate Change, it is actually strongest when we are attributing types of extreme events such as heat waves which are more closely connected to human caused Global Temperatures increases. Confidence tends to be lower than some other type of events, such as hurricanes. As you can imagine with Global Warming, we are seeing glaciers and ice sheets melting, and as they melt, the sea levels rise. Well, when a hurricanes strong wind pushes that water onshore, a storm surge, this results in even greater flooding. So we are already seeing impacts of Climate Change and Global Warming on hurricane impacts. Jennifer collins, thank you. Now, on the other side of the world, from that record breaking atlantic storm season, similarly intense storms in the western Pacific Ocean are known as typhoons. In 2020, in contrast to the atlantic, the pacific has been quieter than average. The season started late, had a record quietjuly, and it has been unusually overshadowed by the number of atlantic storms. That said, the season roared into life in october with five storms going into vietnam, bringing huge rainfall totals and widespread flooding. And also in october, a super typhoon hit the philippines with such intensity, it now holds the record for the strongest to make landfall there. But in contrast to what we have seen in the atlantic, its thought stronger wind shear through the atmosphere helped to limit the number of pacific storms in 2020. Now to some of your weather watcher pictures, from an early december snowfall. Scenes like this in the uk are forecast to become increasingly rare as temperatures rise. The met office says unless global Carbon Emissions reduce significantly, by the end of the century, lying snow will have disappeared from all but the highest ground. You can become a weather watcher by signing up at the bbc website. Still to come on weather world. A familiar winter scene in the russian city of vladivostok, but you wont believe what happens next. I am at the National Maritime museum in london, using the great map here to do something the pandemic does not allow, which is travel around the world, sort of, to tell the story of 2020s highs and lows. We have talked a lot about heat and the warmer atmosphere can contain more moisture, it is basic physics. So, when it rains, it really rains, and the results can be disastrous as we saw in Southern Europe in october. A house is swept away by a flash flood as storm alex brings a deluge to south east france in october, with more than 600 millimetres of rain in 24 hours. Floods and record rain have been a recurring theme of 2020s weather , like here injapan injuly, where the countrys meteorologists said parts of the country have been hit with extreme levels rainfall that have never seen been seen before. Parts of east africa had the most intense seasonal rains in a century, affecting nearly 6 million people, according to the united nations. The wet weather in 2020 and 2019 lead to the worst locust swarms in decades, devastating crops as they swept across east africa. In the uk, a succession of storms in february made it the wettest february on record. And then in a soaking october, the uk had its wettest day. Three named storms hit the uk in february, producing severe flooding, particularly in parts of england and wales. On the 15th of the month, the uk had its third wettest day on record. But even wetter was to come on the 3rd of october, when, according to the met office, enough rain fell across the uk to more than fill scotlands loch ness, to make it the uks wettest day on record. The city of oxford had its soggiest october since back in 1875, when the rain caused extensive flooding. We know that because the city is home to the redcliffe weather station, the uks longest continuous rainfall record, dating back to the 18th century. Its director is professor washington. On the 3rd of october, we had one of the wettest days in the entire record. 60mm of rain fell. And it rained 27 out of 31 days in october. So it was pretty clear that the rainfall record was the one to watch. Rainfall generally is very complicated, there are all sorts of things occurring in the creation of rain, thunderstorms that bring the very heavy rain are quite different from the large atlantic cyclones that feature in the autumn months. But generally across the globe as a whole, we are seeing an increase in rainfall intensity and the intense rainfall events recently in oxford are part of that trend. Weather youre part of the world will be wetter or dry than average going into 2021 could depend on what is happening in the tropical Pacific Ocean, where meteorologists have declared a la nina event is underway. This is where easterly trade winds strengthen and push warm water towards the west. This in turn warms the air which rises, generating storm clouds. La nina years tend to bring a lot of rainfall to South East Asia and australia. Australian forecasters are predicting a wetter than average summer for most of the country. On the other side of the pacific, the warm water is replaced by cool water, which wells up from the deep ocean and drifts westwards. This cools the air, so cloud and rain struggle to develop. So, the western side of south america will be drier than normal. But la nina also has impacts far beyond the tropical pacific. It can bring wetter south west monsoons to south asia, and already, 2020s wet season brought india 9 more rainfall than normal, following a 2019 season that came in 10 above average, the First Time Since the 1950s, two consecutive years have been wetter than normal. And will la nina offer any hope to those areas devastated by wildfires in 2020, including here in the usa state of oregon in september . In fire affected areas, the influence of la nina is a mixed picture. In the amazon, la nina could bring long awaited rain. Northern brazil can often see increased rainfall in la nina years. North western states of the usa, washington and oregon, are likely to have a wetter than average winter. But further south, it could be a more worrying story. La nina can divert much needed rainfall away from california. This la nina event is forecast to peak early in 2021, but its influence could be felt much further into the year. We can talk again now to doctor emily shugborough, chief climate scientist at cambridge university. Emily, with regard to la nina, could it be that its cooling effect means that 2021 is cooler than 2020 . It looks as though we are entering a la nina phase, which will extend through the Northern Hemisphere winter, and those la nina phases are typically associated with slightly cooler Global Temperatures. Weather or not that turns out to dominate above the overall warming trend that we are seeing mean that 2021 will be slightly cooler, we will just have to wait and see. But the overall trend that we are on is very much one of warming, and at our current rate of warming, we are already more than one celsius warmer than preindustrial times, and we are on track to reach 1. 5 degrees of warming over the next 20 years or so. Of course, all being well, in 2021, we will be post pandemic, the Global Recovery will be underway. Carbon emissions will start to go up again. How much is this do you think an opportunity for a reset so that we dontjust go back to the pre pandemic world . That, i think, is critically important, isnt it . If we are to limit the impacts of Climate Change, we need to reverse that increase in emissions and decrease emissions by a similar amount to the amount that we have seen a degrees in emissions this year, but that needs to occur a so that we halve our global emissions over this coming decade, and we reach a net zero emissions globally by about the middle of the century. Doctor emily shugborough, thank you so much for talking to us again on weather world. My pleasure. With working from home being so commonplace this year, many people have got more time to watch and record the weather around their homes. On the last instalment of weather world, my son and i showed you how to make a rain gauge. This time we are looking at measuring our temperature. Oscar, what do we need . A thermometer like this one. Weve got it. Lets take a look at the best place to put it in the garden to get the most accurate reading. So, oscar, how about we put the thermometor up here . No, because that it is in the sunshine, giving you the wrong temperature. The sunshine, giving youre right. The sunshine, giving if we put it in direct sunlight, that means the sunshine warms up the surface of the thermometer, like it would to your skin on a sunny day, so then you get a recording of the temperature of the thermometer, not the true and temperature. So, we need shade. Lets find somewhere else. So, this is a shady spot. How about we put the thermometer here . No, because the bricks reflect sunlight, heating up the thermometer. Thats right. We should not put the thermometer on a building, there is central heating inside the building and the bricks give off heat as well. So, we need shade, not neara building, lets find another spot. Ok, so, we are in the shade, away from buildings, how about it we put it down here, oscar . No, because the ground reflects heat, too. Thats right. We dont want it to close to the ground because the ground warms up and radiates heat away. So we want it about 1. 2 metres above ground level. That is the same height as me. Right, yes, so, we find the height of a seven year old, and how about this spot . It is away from any buildings, it is not in direct sunlight and it is not on the ground. Remember, if you are recording the temperature from home, do it about the same time every day, about three oclock in the afternoon for maximum temperatures, just when you are coming out of school. Thanks for helping, oscar. Shall we go inside and warm up . Yes, please. Now, earlier, we asked you what happens next as this man cleared snow from his car. Just about the luckiest escape you are ever going to see on weather world, as the weight of ice contributes to some cladding plummeting from a building onto a car, and almost its owner, in the russian city of vladivostok. You have got to see this. And finally. 2020 has given us a lot of weather we would rather forget, but never forget, the sky can also produce moments of incredible beauty, as this uk photographer and astronomer, amtt robinson, is discovering whilst living in norway, thanks to the northern lights. Oh, wow and that is it from weather world from the National Maritime museum, and our look back at 2020. For clips from our previous programs, go to the weather world website on the bbc. And look out for the monthly climate check report. Until the next weather world. Bye. Goodbye. Stormy 24 hours ahead as a stone ballast to bed down across the uk and there are still severe flood warnings. Any more pain on saturated ground and already overflowing rivers is not good news. And you can see that tightly packed isobars. We are concerned about the strength of the wind and warnings are out from the wind and warnings are out from the met office in southern areas. It will spill into northern ireland, the rest of scotland. There will be drizzly showers, a lot of clouds gathering across england and wales but there could be a little bit of brightness and sunshine. Relatively mild. That is because we have south westerly winds which will escalate across scotland and northern ireland. A significant amount of rain falling from many areas. Winds in excess of 70 mph could bring down power lines. Very gusty. Storm force winds around. Exposed coastline. The combination of wind and rain make for treacherous conditions on the roads. There is likely to be disruption. That rain and strong wind still around in the morning. A wild night and a wild start to sunday. But behind that there are icy patches, snow in the showers and that wintry weather will filter southwards through the day. Most of the showers will be across central and Northern Areas but by the time we get to monday, that area of low pressure is meandering close to easter areas, we could have it here as well. Snow in some areas. By that stage the winds are starting to eat a little bit but daytime temperatures will struggle to get much more than two or three degrees above freezing. It will feel cold. Some sunshine in between those wintry showers. That cold air stays with us well into the start of the new year. Plenty of warnings out for flood and severe flood warnings. Warnings the and rain. This is bbc new. These are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. Millions of people face tougher covid restrictions as rule changes come into force. As the uk grapples with a new strain of coronavirus, there are now confirmed cases in france, spain and sweden. 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