Forecasters say 2025 ‘more likely than not’ to be UK’s hottest year on record
Met Office says temperatures are tracking ahead of 2022 after year of heatwaves and drought, though late cold spell could yet intervene
TL;DR
- 2025 is 'more likely than not' to be the UK's hottest year on record.
- The mean temperature for 2025 is tracking ahead of the previous record set in 2022.
- 2025 will likely be one of the UK's warmest years, joining 2022 and 2023 in the top three.
- The UK's annual temperature has risen by about 1C over the last four decades.
- Since 2000, a new UK annual mean temperature record has been set six times.
- If confirmed, 2025 would be the second year where the UK's annual mean temperature exceeds 10C.
- Four of the past five years would feature among the top five warmest since 1884.
- All of the top 10 warmest years have occurred in the past two decades.
- The UK experienced its hottest summer on record earlier this year.
- All five of the hottest summers on record have occurred since 2000.
- The Met Office describes current climate changes as 'unprecedented' in observational records.