Scotland's Average Temperatures Up 0.7C In Ten Years - Glascow Herald

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GLOBAL warming is having a long-term impact on Scotland's climate, rather than just causing the odd hot summer, according to an official report published yesterday. It showed average temperatures in Scotland have risen more than 1C over the last century, with a 0.7C rise in the last decade alone.

The average annual temperature between 1991 and 2004 was 8.6C, according to the Scottish Executive's Key Environment Statistics 2005. This compared to 7.9C in the period 1961 to 1990, and 7.4C between 1857 and 1900. The Met Office and environmental campaign groups said the rise was significant. It is higher than the global average surface temperature rise of 0.57C, which is likely to be a result of Scotland's relative proximity to the North Pole, where depletion of the ozone layer is most marked.

Many environmentalists attribute Scotland's heatwaves of 2003 and the floods and landslips in the following year to climate change.
The executive's report showed rainfall was also rising slightly. Average annual rainfall in the 1990s was 1524mm, compared to 1462mm in the previous decade and 1315mm in the 1970s, a decade during which rainfall was unusually low. Climate change has damaged Scotland's economically important winter skiing season. Glenshee ski resort has been forced to install snow machines and is considering new business developments more suited to the warmer weather, while the centre at Glencoe was put up for sale after its owners were forced to mothball winter skiing because of lack of snow.

Falling numbers of birds such as curlew, lapwing, and ring ouzel and the decline of plants such as the corn buttercup and several species of lichen, are thought to be partly attributable to climate change.
In April, the British Trust for Ornithology said it had discovered around 1000 seabirds which had starved to death around Scotland's coast. The charity claimed rising sea temperatures were killing off the birds' food source. The situation is likely to get worse. Yesterday's report predicts a 3.5C increase by 2100 during the summer and a 2.5C increase in the winter months.

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http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/44875-print.shtml