Weather: Hastings and Rother could be in for blazing hot summers say weather experts.

The heatwave is back with a vengeance. Picture: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

Summer 2018 was the UK’s joint hottest on record but the Met Office says that under the highest emissions scenario, summer temperatures could be 5.4C hotter by 2070. The chances of a summer as warm as 2018 are around 50% by 2050.

SEE ALSO: Hastings MP says high speed trains will remain at the top of the agendaIt is the Met Office’s first major update on climate change in almost 10 years.

A key figure in the report is the rise in summer temperatures - up to 5.4C warmer than the average between 1981-2000.

This would only happen, claim the Met Office, if the world was to continue increasing emissions of carbon dioxide rather than reducing them as most governments intend.

The Met Office says that, under a high emissions future temperatures could rise by between 1.1C to 5.8C.

But even under a low emissions scenario, the Met Office says that the UK will see an increase in the average yearly temperature of up to 2.3C by 2100.

Met Office chief scientist Dr Stephen Belcher says: “With really hot summers like this year’s - in the 1990s that was a less than 5% chance of getting those. Now we are up to a 15-20% chance. By 2050 that’s a normal summer. By late century it depends what we do about greenhouse gases.”

Raised sea levels are also one of the consequences of a warmer world and according to the report, they could increase by 1.15 metres in London by 2100.

The report says the UK is set to see an increase in both the frequency and magnitude of extreme water levels.