A picture shows a parched section of the Wayoh Reservoir spanned by the Armsgrove Viaduct at Edgworth, near Bolton, northwest England, on Aug. 1, 2018, as dry and hot conditions hit much of Britain during a heatwave in Europe.

(Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

At a Glance

Several climate trends that have emerged in the U.K. since the 1960s.High temperatures are getting higher.Low temperatures are showing an even greater jump.

Increased weather extremes andtropical nightsare becoming the norm in the U.K. as a result of climate change, a new report says.

Researchers for the U.K. Met Office study looked at data fromtheWorld Meteorological Organizationand theWorld Climate Research Programand found that have emerged in the U.K. since the 1960s.

Tropical nights, defined as24-hour periods when the minimum temperature doesn’t fall below 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) is not common in theU.K. but could become , according to a press release.

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During the three decades between 1961 to 1990, there were eight tropical nights recorded in the U.K. In the past decade, there have been four.

“Minimum overnight temperatures of over 20.0 °C in the U.K. are rare currently and even during this summer this threshold was only exceeded on a few occasions.," Dr. Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, said in the press release. "However, with projections in climate suggesting warmer temperatures, it is useful to have this metric in place, so that future changes can be monitored.”

McCarthy said an could be risky, particularly for the elderly.

"A particular concern for the health impacts of heat waves are these tropical nights where the human body doesn't get respite from the heat," McCarthy told the BBC."That is particularly so in large cities where it is further exacerbated by the urban heat island effect where the city will retain more of the heat of the day.

"Of those places where we do see tropical nights most frequently, London is one of those areas where it does occur. It could become a very important index in thefuture," he added.

The hottest day of each year from 2008 to 2017 in the U.K. has been on average 0.8 degrees Celsiuswarmer than the hottest day of each year over the period of 1961 to 1990. On the other hand, the lowest temperature of the year shows an even greater increase — 1.7 degrees warmer between the two periods.

“Monthly, seasonal and annual climate data provide a valuable record of the changing climate in the U.K. However, these average figures have a tendency to mask extreme weather and climate events," McCarthy said in the release. "So in our latest report, we have focussed on those measures which record weather extremes – complementing our recently published State of the UK climate 2017 report – which shows how the U.K.’s climate is changing.”

Other findings from the study:

• Warm spells have doubled in length, increasing from 5.3 days from 1961 to 1990 to13.2 days from 2008 to 2017.• The number of days that don't go above the freezing mark is decreasing.• The longest dry spells each year have increased by 2.5 days on average.• Total wet days each year have increased by 17 percent.