This year is on course to be the UK’s hottest since records began, according to the Met Office, as climate change continues to drive temperatures to new heights.
With just over a week still to go, the average UK air temperature across 2025 is on track to end up at about 10.05C.
A cooler Christmas could affect final figures, but it is likely that 2025 will edge out the current record of 10.03C from 2022, the Met Office says.
Along with a lack of rainfall, the persistent warmth left the country vulnerable to droughts and wildfires through the spring and summer, with temperatures peaking at 35.8C.
While temperatures vary naturally from year to year, scientists could not be clearer that human-caused climate change is driving the UK’s rapidly warming trend.
By the end of 2025, the UK’s 10 warmest years on record will all have taken place in the last two decades, in measurements going back to the late 1800s.
