The Met Office has warned that record-breaking temperature and rainfall extremes are becoming the norm in the UK, based on data published in the latest State of the UK Climate report.
The study found that the UK’s climate has been steadily warming since the 1980s, with the last three years being among the top five warmest years recorded since 1884.
The most recent decade was 1.24°C warmer than the period from 1961 to 1990, and recent warming far exceeds any temperatures observed in central England in at least 300 years.
2024 was the second-warmest year since records began, and 2025 looks to be yet another year of extreme weather if the recent scorching heatwaves of the past few weeks are any indication.
The State of the UK climate report noted that the frequency and intensity of heat and rainfall extremes has skyrocketed in the last decade.
According to the data, the number of days with temperatures 5°C above the 1961-1990 average has doubled for the period from 2015 to 2024 compared with 1961 to 1990. The number of days with temperatures 8°C above average has trebled and for 10°C it has quadrupled.
The frequency of the coldest nights experienced by the UK has also dropped dramatically, and extreme amounts of rainfall are also becoming more commonplace as the UK becomes wetter during the winter months.
The Met Office also noted that the rise in sea levels around the UK is accelerating, with levels in the UK now rising faster than the global average for the first time.
“We are experiencing more severe weather events in the UK due to climate change,” said Met Office Chief Scientist Prof Stephen Belcher.
“They are a potent reminder of our responsibility to citizens now, and to future generations, to accelerate efforts to adapt our society and infrastructure to cope with these weather extremes.”
“The climate is likely to continue to change, and so we need to prepare for the impacts that will have on the weather we experience on the ground,” Belcher said.
The graph below shows the relative number of above average days recorded in the past decade compared with historical data.
Leave a Reply