The year 2025 is on track to be one of the UK’s warmest years on record, joining 2022 and 2023 in the top three warmest years.
The Met Office has said that the mean temperature value for this year, up to 21 December, is tracking well ahead of the previous record-holding year, 2022, although a colder spell between Christmas and New Year could make it a close call.
Four of the UK’s last five years will appear in the top five warmest years in a series from 1884, which the forecaster warned was “an indication of just how fast our climate is changing.”
With a projected average value of 10.05C, 2025 could beat 2022, where the average temperature was 10.03C. The year 2023 follows on after, with an average of 9.97C, while 2014 and 2024 round out the top five years with respective temperatures of 9.88C and 9.79C.
All top-ten warmest years will have occurred in the last two decades. If the record is confirmed, this will be only the second year in observational records where the UK’s annual mean temperature has exceeded 10.0C.
Mike Kendon, a senior scientist in the Met Office’s climate information team, said this record-high would not be a surprise given how the UK’s annual temperature has risen by around 1.0C over the last four decades.
He said: “If confirmed at year end, this will be the second annual UK temperature record for the UK this decade with the previous being in 2022. This should come as no surprise. Over the last four decades we have seen the UK’s annual temperature rise by around 1.0C. We will have to wait for the year end before confirming 2025’s final number, but at this stage it looks more likely than not that 2025 will be confirmed as the warmest year on record for the UK.
“However, it will not be long until this record is broken again. Since the start of the twenty first century a new record has been set for UK annual mean temperature no less than six times – in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014, 2022 and now 2025 (if confirmed) – each record progressively warmer than the last. In terms of our climate, we are living in extraordinary times. The changes we are seeing are unprecedented in observational records back to the nineteenth century.”
Already, 2025 has been crowned the sunniest year on record for the UK, according to provisional Met Office statistics. The UK recorded 1,622 hours of sunshine up until 15 December, beating its previous sunniest year set in 2003, in a series which dates back to 1910.
Summer 2025 was officially the warmest summer on record for the UK as the mean temperature from 1 June to 31 August stood at 16.10C, 1.51C above the long-term meteorological average.
The Met Office has also predicted that 2026 will likely be another year above 1.4C; the central estimate for the forecast next year is currently 1.46C, lower than the value of 1.55C recorded in 2024.
Today:
Cloud lingering, with brighter breaks typically in the west. Dry for most but pockets of drizzle still possible. Turning breezier in the east and south, feeling colder as a result.
Wednesday to Friday:
Cloud breaking into the Christmas period with more sunny spells emerging. Largely dry, but also turning colder with a notable wind chill across England and Wales.
