The United Kingdom is experiencing an increasing frequency of heat and rainfall records as its climate undergoes continued warming, the Met Office has cautioned.
According to the agency’s State of the UK Climate report, shifting weather patterns indicate that the UK’s climate is now “notably different” compared to just a few decades prior.
The latest assessment reveals a marked increase in very hot days and a decrease in extremely cold nights.
This underscores the extent to which global warming, driven by substantial greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, is reshaping the country’s climate.
Climate change is contributing to more severe weather events, including storms and flooding, inevitably impacting the natural world and causing challenges for certain species.
The report highlights 2024, during which the UK experienced its second-warmest February, warmest May, warmest spring, fifth-warmest December, and fifth-warmest winter since records commenced in 1884.
The Met Office notes that some of these records have already been surpassed in 2025, further substantiating the trend toward more extreme weather conditions.
This summer, many regions of the UK are facing their third heatwave, with unusually warm weather extending into Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and southern England.
Yorkshire imposed the first hosepipe ban of the year last week following England’s warmest June on record, which followed the country’s driest and sunniest spring in 132 years.
In June, the Environment Agency declared Yorkshire and the northwest of England to be in official drought. An additional region is anticipated to be added to the list at the UK’s National Drought Group meeting on Tuesday.
According to Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the State of the UK Climate report, “Each passing year represents another step upward on the warming trajectory of our climate.”
“Observations clearly demonstrate that the UK’s climate is now markedly different from what it was just a few decades ago,” he stated.
Situated between the Atlantic Ocean and continental Europe, the UK’s island location places it at the convergence of several major air masses. This positioning contributes to the country’s highly variable climate, which, in turn, complicates the mapping of certain climate changes.
The Met Office indicates that rainfall patterns exhibit greater fluctuation than temperature. However, the agency has found that, alongside warming, the UK is also experiencing increased precipitation, particularly during winter months. Rainfall between October and March in 2015–2024 was 16% higher than in 1961–1990.
The Met Office attributes these changes to the sustained rise in average temperatures caused by climate change. Global temperatures have risen by over 1.3 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution, fueled by unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.
The Met Office estimates that the UK is warming at a rate of approximately 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade, with the 2015-2024 period being 1.24 degrees Celsius warmer than the period between 1961-1990.
As the UK’s national weather service, the Met Office maintains the Central England Temperature record, which is the world’s longest-running weather record. Based on measurements obtained from thermometers and other instruments, the record spans from 1659 to the present and demonstrates that recent warming has surpassed any observed temperatures in over 300 years.
The last three years have been among the UK’s top five warmest on record, with 2024 being the fourth warmest year in records dating back to 1884.
Even a minor shift in temperatures can significantly increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, as illustrated in the graph below.
As the distribution of temperatures shifts, previously extreme temperatures become more common, while new extremes become significantly more likely.
Observations from the Met Office confirm perceptions that colder days are becoming less frequent. The agency reports that there were 14 fewer days with air frosts—when the air temperature drops below zero—in the last decade compared to the period from 1931 to 1990.
As in recent years, floods and storms were the primary causes of severe weather damage in the UK last year.
A series of named storms that struck the UK beginning in the autumn of 2023 contributed to widespread flooding in early January, leading to the wettest winter half-year—October 2023 to March 2024—in over 250 years.
Areas particularly affected by flooding included eastern Scotland, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the West Midlands, with some locations recording three to four times their typical September rainfall.
In early January 2024, the Royal Shakespeare Company had to cancel performances for two consecutive evenings due to flooding in Stratford-upon-Avon. In November, a wall collapsed in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, after a local brook overflowed, flooding the town center.
Met Office Chief Scientist Professor Stephen Belcher stated that the evidence of the impacts already brought by climate change highlights the urgent need for the UK to adapt to future extremes.
“The climate is likely to continue to change, and we must prepare for the impacts this will have on the weather we experience,” he said.
For the first time, this report underscores that UK sea levels are rising faster than the global average.
Dr. Svetlana Jevrejeva from the National Oceanography Centre warns that as sea levels continue to rise around the UK, the risk of flooding will only increase further.
“Based on historical events, we know that it is only a matter of time before the UK is again in the path of a major storm surge,” she stated.
The UK’s changing climate is inevitably impacting the natural world.
Spring in 2024 arrived earlier than average for 12 of the 13 spring events on record and was the earliest in the series from 1999 for both the appearance of frogspawn and blackbird nesting.
The timing of seasonal activity in plants and animals, known as phenology, is tracked by a network of volunteers coordinated by the Nature’s Calendar citizen science project.
Changing patterns in natural events can have significant consequences. Dormice and hedgehogs, two of the UK’s most threatened mammals, are particularly vulnerable to very warm weather.
Fruits and nuts ripen earlier in hot weather, which can reduce the availability of these foods in the autumn when animals are attempting to build up fat reserves for the winter.
At the Alice Holt forest research center outside London, researchers are investigating methods to enhance the resilience of trees and forests to the country’s future climate.
Dr. Gail Atkinson, Head of Climate Change Science at the center, notes that many of the current tree species are simply unable to cope with the changing conditions.
“After a drought, we observe reduced growth, meaning trees are not growing as we would expect,” she explains.
“Signs of stress are visible throughout the woodland, including ragged-looking leaves in the canopy, and in extreme cases, we may find trees that have died.”
Studies at Alice Holt suggest that coastal redwoods from California may thrive as the UK continues to become hotter and wetter. Researchers have been growing trees from different latitudes for the past 60 years to assess their performance in the UK climate.
This means that in the coming decades, the world’s tallest trees could become a common sight across the UK.
Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to stay informed on the latest climate and environment stories with Justin Rowlatt from the BBC. Outside the UK? Sign up for our international newsletter here.
Yorkshire Water reports that its hosepipe ban saved approximately 26 million gallons over the weekend.
Kate Hoare notes that warm weather affects milk yield as cows expend more energy cooling down.
Three heatwaves and a lack of rain have left London’s trees struggling, prompting a search for solutions.
Sea temperatures around areas like Majorca exceeded 30 degrees Celsius earlier this month, well above average.
Yorkshire Water’s CEO, Nicola Shaw, states that the ban will remain in place until the reservoirs have been “recharged.”