Environmental analysis: Climate change forces earlier British summer

Scientists have revealed results that show British summertime moved forward by 11 days during the 1990s.

Research into the onset of summer had not been widely covered until Professor Grant Bigg and undergraduate Amy Kirbyshire, of the University of Sheffield's department of geography, released a study of their findings.

Professor Bigg said: "There has been a lot of attention paid to the shift of earlier springs but we've shown a similar advancement in summer conditions."

Using phonological research into the first summer flowers of the year as well as average daily temperature recordings, the pair were able to show that British summers arrived earlier compared with recordings from 1954 to 1963.

The dates of the first flowers of 385 plant species were monitored and the mean temperature to represent summer was taken as 14 C.

Their results could be significant in revealing the future of climate change. The professor hopes to conduct further research into whether earlier summers could have had an effect on the droughts and heat waves of recent years.

At the end of April, temperatures in Britain hit a high of 22 C but have dropped since, causing uncertainty over summer 2010's weather outlook.

Posted by Lauren Steadman