Why was the 60s-80s a colder period for the UK?

[Greyhound81]

The 1960s - 1980s was generally a colder period for this country.  The world started to get warmer from the 70s onwards but the UK only really started getting warmer around 1990.  There were some very warm months between 1960 and 1990, but is was generally colder, compared to previous and more recent 30 year averages.   

What was the main reason why it was colder?  Could it have been that aerosols (smog from factories) took a long time to be reduced compared to the rest of the world, or could it have been solar activity?  Could it be something to do with Arctic sea Ice?

I don't really know enough about Weather and Climate myself to know, so these are just guesses.  It was probably something I have not even thought of.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Greyhound81
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[Northernlights]

Probably higher ocean temperatures related to less sea ice as we are a small island surrounded by the sea

Now this is² where  I get my tin hat out but the compounding growth in cars/lorries and aircraft travel really took off in the nineties with record sales every year until the pandemic. In my opinion they have added to this warming phase.( Even my local airport Inverness has gone from about 8 flights a day to 40 plus pre pandemic  and  is almost back to these levels)

[Summer8906]

I'm not sure of the underlying cause of this, but the 60s to 80s did seem to feature a lot of northwesterly synoptics, which would bring colder daytime maxima in autumn, winter and spring compared to southwesterlies, and colder or much colder night-time minima at all seasons.

Compared to the period since, it seemed to be more common for Atlantic lows to follow a NW-SE trajectory in the 60s-80s, and introduce cold polar air from high latitudes. I haven't done a detailed analysis of this, it's really just based on memory (80s) and examining old charts (60s-80s as a whole).

The exception was perhaps the 1971-76 period which seemed to be more 90s-like with a run of mild winters, two very warm summers, and one reasonably warm summer (1973).

Edited May 14, 2023 by Summer8906