UK Annual Weather Summary 2025

2025 was a double record-breaker: the UK's warmest and sunniest year on record.A key feature was the prolonged warm, dry and sunny weather across much of the UK during the spring and summer.Parts of the country, particularly central England, experienced several heatwaves during July and August.The persistent warmth on land was also matched with exceptionally high sea surface temperatures and lasting marine heatwave conditions in waters surrounding the UK -a likely factor contributing to the warmth of spring and summer.The year saw four storms named by the western European group: A red warning was issued for owyn in late January, the UK's most powerful windstorm for over a decade; Floris in early August brought strong winds and heavy rain to northern parts; Amy in early October hit northwestern parts of the UK; and Bram in early December again affected the north and west.In addition, storm Claudia, named by the Spanish meteorological service AEMET, brought extensive heavy rain to England and Wales in mid-November: in south Wales, Monmouth experienced severe flooding.The UK annual mean temperature was 10.09C, 0.95C above the 1991-2020 long-term average and the warmest year -so far -in the UK in the series from 1884 (as this is the 6th time so far since 2000 a new UK annual mean temperature record has been set, it will surely be broken again in a matter of years).The five warmest years are 2025, 2022, 2023, 2014 and 2024 -a statistic that would be virtually impossible without climate change.2025 was only the second year exceeding 10C.It was the UK's warmest year for average maximum temperatures (exceeding 14C for the first time), but only the fourth warmest for average minimum temperatures.It was also the warmest year in the 367-year Central England Temperature (CET) series from 1659.The record warm year was largely as a result of persistent warmth and absence of cold, rather than any individual extreme spell.While no individual month was record-breaking, March to August and December were all at least 1C warmer than average, with only January and September cooler than average.The UK's highest temperature of the year, 35.8C at Faversham (Kent) on 1 July, was relatively modest compared to 38+C in 2022 and 2019.Spring and summer 2025 were both the UK's warmest on record; for spring, this was for the second consecutive year.