SCOTLAND has had its hottest May since records began.
Data from the Met Office shows last month was also the fourth-driest May on record, with just 34 per cent of the usual rain for that month, and the eighth-sunniest. Alongside this, it was the 18th-sunniest month since records began in 1914.
The av
erage temperature, at 10.5C, was 2.2C hotter than the norm. It has been rated as exceptionally above average.
Dr Richard Dixon, the director of WWF Scotland, linked the hotter-than-normal temperatures to climate change.
"While enjoying some unexpected sun here in Scotland, we must not forget that climate change is hitting other parts of the world much harder than us," he said.
"May also saw the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, with more than 130,000 people killed or missing, and climate change is forecast to make storms worse around the world."
Dr Dixon said the new evidence of hotter temperatures should provide impetus to governments to step up measures to tackle climate change.
He called for "co-ordinated long-term action to end our addiction to fossil fuels" and for the Scottish Government to set the benchmark for other developed countries when it forms the Climate Change Bill later this year.
The full article contains 218 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
