Environment Agency - Home

Climate change predictions for the North West

The climate in the North West is set to get warmer during the summer and wetter during the winter with periods of more intense weather events. This will increase the risk of storms and flooding, and sea levels will rise. Sea levels at Liverpool have increased by around 6cm in the last 50 years.

How much our climate changes in the future depends on the global release of greenhouse gas. The United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) scenarios describe possible climate change under four alternative futures, ranging from rapid economic growth with intensive use of fossil fuels (High Emissions) to increased economic, social and environmental sustainability with cleaner energy technologies (Low Emissions). These have been derived from the intergovernmental panel on Climate Change Special report on emission scenarios. UKCIP are currently testing a new set of climate change scenarios.

With high emissions of greenhouse gases we can expect dramatic changes in our climate.

At a glance...

By 2080 if we continue to discharge high amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere then in the North West it is possible that:

  • The temperature could rise by between 1° and 5° Centigrade.
  • Winter rainfall could increase by up to 30%.
  • Summer rainfall could decrease by 50% compared with current patterns.
  • Snowfall will decrease by as much as 90% across the North West.
  • Sea levels could rise by 67cm.
  • Weather patterns could become more extreme - high temperatures recorded occasionally today could become the norm by 2080.
  • Agricultural practices could change significantly in order to cope with the longer growing season and the reduced soil moisture.