The UK could be set to have had its warmest year on record, according to forecasters.
The Met Office says 2025 is on track to become one of the UK’s warmest years, possibly surpassing 2022.
The average annual temperature is tracking at 10.05C – ahead of the previous record of 10.03C set in 2022.
A forecasted cold spell over Christmas means the final figure is not yet confirmed.
If it is confirmed, 2025 will be only the second year in observational records where the UK’s annual mean temperature has topped 10C.
Four of the last five years will then appear in the top five warmest years since records began in 1884. All of the top 10 warmest years will have occurred in the last two decades.
A new record has been previously set for the UK annual mean temperature five times this century – in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014 and 2022.
‘Extraordinary times’
Mike Kendon, a senior scientist at the Met Office, said: “At this stage it looks more likely than not that 2025 will be confirmed as the warmest year on record for the UK.”
He added: “In terms of our climate, we are living in extraordinary times. The changes we are seeing are unprecedented in observational records back to the 19th century.”
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Professor of climate science Friederike Otto described the findings as “devastating and utterly unsurprising”, adding: “10C might not sound very warm, but it is an average and means much higher temperatures in the summer, high temperatures that would have never been possible are now common and that is not good news.”
Bob Ward, from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “This is further evidence of the impacts of climate change in the UK, and the urgent need for us to stop warming by leading the world in reaching net zero emissions of greenhouse gases as soon as possible.”
