UK had its warmest, sunniest year on record in 2025

The United Kingdom, traditionally associated with frequent rain, overcast skies and moderate temperatures, recorded its warmest and sunniest year on record in 2025, the Met Office said in a statement. Experts said the data was "a clear demonstration” of the impact of climate change on Britain's climate.

With an average annual temperature of 10.09 degrees Celsius, 2025 surpassed the previous record of 10.03 degrees Celsius, set in 2022. It is the first time that the 10 degrees Celsius threshold has been so clearly exceeded in a single year since official measurements began in 1884.

• Recent decades dominated by record years

According to the Met Office, four of the last five years are among the top five warmest years ever recorded in the United Kingdom. Moreover, all ten of the warmest years have been recorded in the last two decades, a relevant statistical indicator of the accelerating warming trend. "This shows, in an increasingly obvious way, the effects of climate change on temperatures in the United Kingdom,” the British meteorological agency said in an official statement.

• Absolute record for sunshine hours

2025 was not only the hottest but also the sunniest year on record since 1910. In total, the UK enjoyed an estimated 1,648.5 hours of sunshine, 61.4 hours more than the previous record set in 2003. For a country known for its unpredictable weather and frequent lack of sunshine, this record marks a significant change in climate, with impacts on the environment, agriculture, water resources and public health. During the summer of 2025, the UK experienced four heatwaves, according to the Met Office. While the absolute temperature record - 40.3 degrees Celsius, recorded in July 2022 - was not broken, the repeated episodes of heatwave confirm the intensification of extreme weather events. "This very warm year is consistent with the expected consequences of human-induced climate change,” said Mark McCarthy, a climate scientist at the Met Office.

• Climate change, a reality confirmed by the data

Experts point out that while not every year will set a new temperature record, the overall trend is clearly upward. Climate models and weather observations converge on the same conclusion: global warming caused by human activities is profoundly changing the UK's climate. "While this does not mean that every year will be the warmest ever recorded, our data clearly shows that human-induced global warming is having a direct impact on the UK's climate,” said Mark McCarthy.

• Long-term implications

Increasing temperatures and sunshine hours have complex implications: from pressures on infrastructure, to changes in agriculture, more frequent droughts and increased risks to the health of the population, particularly among the elderly and vulnerable. For climatologists, the year 2025 is not an isolated episode, but a new alarm signal in a succession of records that outlines a new climate normal for the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole.