Extreme heatwaves AND freezing weather have both become more common over the past 30 years, claim experts
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Heatwaves and prolonged spells of freezing weather have become more common over the past three decades, according to scientists.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia found that extreme weather conditions have been occurring more frequently in the past 30 years compared to a 130 year average.
It comes as meteorologists have said that 2014 is on track to the be warmest year on record.
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Average global temperatures for 2014 have been higher than average and may even break previous records
Figures published by the Met Office predicted that the global mean temperature for 2014 is 0.01 degrees C warmer than 2010, currently the warmest on record at 14.50 degrees C (58.12F)
This is despite much of the northern hemisphere being plunged into temperatures well below freezing in January as North America was hit by an Arctic polar vortex.
According to the latest findings from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit, temperatures in the northern hemisphere have been more volatile than in the southern hemisphere.
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Professor Phil Jones, who led the work, said: 'Trends in extreme heat and cold are important because they have a large impact on water supplies, agricultural productivity and other factors related to human health and wellbeing.
'Improved understanding of the spatial patterns of change are vital for understanding the causes of recent extreme weather events.'
The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Geophysical Review Letters, analysed monthly temperature records at set points around the world between 1881 and 2013.
The found that on average through the 130-year period, periods of unusually cold weather increased in frequency more than extreme heatwaves.
This led to a narrowing of the range of the Earth's temperatures, they said.
However, in the past 30 years, the researchers found that the pattern has been reversed with incidences of hot weather increasing at a faster rate.
Extreme weather can bring chaos to transport systems while causing billions of pounds worth of damage and hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world each year.
Average temperatures since 1850 show that 2014 is on course to be the warmest year on record
An estimated 31,000 people died in the UK as a result of bitter temperatures during the winter of 2012/2013.
During December 2013 and January 2014, 200 million people were blasted by icy temperatures as arctic winds brought heavy snow to much of North America.
Temperatures fell as low as -38°C (-37°F) in Babbitt Minnesota while Wisconsin saw its lowest temperature since 1979. The cold air reached as far south as Dallas that reportedly saw temperatures plunge below −9°C (16°F).
The conditions are estimated to have cost the USA more than $5 billion and saw widespread power failures across large swathes of Canada.
In some areas, temperatures were so low that it led to residents being able to throw pots of boiling water and watching them freeze before the water hit the ground.
By contrast, in 2003, around 30,000 people died across Europe during a summer heatwave, where temperatures in some areas reached more than 104°F (40°C).
Professor Scott Robeson, from Indiana University, who also took part in the study, said: 'Arguably, these cold extremes and warm extremes are the most important factors for human society.'
Extreme cold weather like the Polar Vortex conditions that caused the Hudson River in New York to freeze over in January 2014 have been growing more frequent in the past thirty years, according to new research
Heatwaves see sunseekers flock to the beach but they also bring high death tolls as some struggle to cope
The IPCC has predicted that few areas will be left untouched by the impacts of climate change, which they say will include increasing levels of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and snow storms
He added that the study could help to explain the 'pause' in global warming since 1998 that was reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year.
The new study showed that while warming continued in most parts of the planet, it was offset by a strong cooling during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
Prof Robeson said: 'There really hasn't been a pause in global warming. There has been a pause in Northern Hemisphere winter warming.'
It comes after separate research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that the chances of heatwaves in Europe have increased in the past decade.
The likelihood of Extreme heatwaves, such as the one in 2003, have also increased tenfold, from being a one in 1,000 year event to occurring around once in a century.
By the 2040s, such extreme heatwaves could happen every other year if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the researchers at the Met Office claimed.
The summer heatwave in 2003 killed thousands of people as temperatures soared far higher than those seen in previous years. This map shows the temperature difference in 2003 compared to 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004
Temperature data gathered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that 2014 has already been the warmest on record for some parts of the world, including much of Europe
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