“What we used to think of as extreme, we increasingly consider as normal.”
That is the comment from Mike Kendon, the Met Office lead author of the latest edition of the State of the UK Climate report.
Parts of North Yorkshire now see temperatures that were confined to the south east in the period from 1961-1990
The report, which covers 2025, puts the latest year and decade into a historical context and, says the Met Office, tells us about the changes already seen in the UK’s climate.
The key change is the ongoing rise in temperatures, with extremes particularly affected.
Mike Kendon, Met Office climate information scientist, said: “2025 was the UK’s warmest year on record, the sixth time this record has been broken in the 21st Century so far.
“The last four years are all in the top five warmest years. With warming at around 0.25°C per decade since the 1980s, it seems likely this record will be broken again in a matter of years.”
The latest 10-year period (2016-2025) is 1.33°C warmer than the period from 1961-1990.
Climate on the move
Mike Kendon added: “Think of this warming as moving north and uphill, with areas like the Vale of York now having similar annual temperatures to those experienced by Greater London in 1961-1990.
“In the south east we are seeing the emergence of new warmer climates, while in our northern upland areas we are losing the climatologically coldest habitats from the tops of our mountains.
“Our climate is on the move – literally. The trend shows that in the 1980s annual average temperatures of 11°C were virtually unknown in the UK yet by 2025 almost a fifth of the land surface reached that value.”
“What is particularly concerning is how temperature extremes are being affected, as these cause the greatest impacts – a pattern we’ve seen again in 2026 so far.
“In parts of the south-east, the hottest day of the year has warmed by 4.5°C, three times that of annual mean temperature, and we are now coming to expect 35°C at some point in a hot spell in summer.
“Yet, despite historic heatwaves like 1976, overall temperatures as high as this were comparatively unusual in the 20th Century – back then we did not reach even 30°C, anywhere in the UK, in approximately one year in every five. As an illustration, the number of days of over 30°C has quadrupled in areas such as Greater London.”
“We are right now living in a time of historic and unprecedented change and in terms of temperature, on annual, seasonal, monthly and daily timescales, this evidence shows the climate of the 20th Century has now gone.”
Key observations from 2025
- 2025 was the warmest year in the UK series from 1884, with the last four years in the top five warmest.
- 2025 included the UK’s warmest spring and summer on record, with the six months (March to August) all in the top ten warmest of their respective monthly series.
- The most recent decade 2016 -2025, has been 0.51°C warmer than the period 1991-2020, and 1.33°C warmer than 1961-1990
- The average hottest day of the year has warmed by over 4.5°C in a swathe from Kent to Lincolnshire for the most recent decade, 2016-2025, compared to 1961-1990
- The number of days over 30°C and nights over 18°C has more than quadrupled for Greater London for the most recent decade, 2016–2025, compared to 1961–1990.
- In spring 2025, most of England and Wales received less than half of the 1991-2020 average rainfall, and in some places less than one third. England had its driest spring for over 100 years.
- The winter half-year (October to March) for the most recent decade, 2016–2025, has been 3% wetter than 1991–2020, and 13% wetter than 1961–1990, with little change for the summer half-year
- Spring and summer 2025 combined saw less than 40% of 1991–2020 average rainfall in the driest areas, but for durations longer than six months the 1976 drought was far more severe
- 2025 was the sunniest year in the UK series from 1910, with 1645 sunshine hours, 117% of the 1991-2020 average.
- Spring 2025 was the sunniest spring in the UK series from 1910 and also sunnier than all but three summers: 1976; 1995 and 1911.
Professor Liz Bentley is the Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society. She said: “After the first quarter of the 21st Century, this report is an opportunity to takes stock of climate change in the UK as ‘ground truth’ from weather observations.
“The way we experience climate change most is through the weather extremes.
“Climate change has been described by scientists for many years but is now increasingly being felt by UK population in the own homes and communities.”
