Met Office confirms summer 2025 as the UK's hottest on record
Mean temperature reached 16.10°C, scientists say such an event is now 70 times more likely because of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions
The Met Office has confirmed that summer 2025 was the hottest on record for the United Kingdom, with a national mean temperature of 16.10°C (60.98°F), provisional statistics show. That figure is 1.51°C (2.72°F) above the long-term average and surpasses the previous warmest summer of 2018, which had a mean temperature of 15.76°C (60.37°F).
Met Office climate scientists said a summer as hot or hotter than 2025 is now about 70 times more likely than it would have been in a "natural" climate with no human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The agency said the statistics, which account for overnight lows as well as daytime highs, are consistent with evidence that summers across the UK are becoming hotter and drier as the climate warms.
The summer comprised four distinct heatwaves, the Met Office said. The highest temperature recorded was 35.8°C (96.4°F) at Faversham, Kent, on July 1. While some single-day maxima in other years have been higher, the agency noted that the national mean — which incorporates daytime peaks and overnight temperatures — provides a measure of the overall seasonal warmth.
The pattern of recent summers contributed to a reshuffling of historical rankings: the famed summer of 1976, long viewed as an iconic heat year in the UK, has been pushed out of the top five. The Met Office reported that the five warmest summers in UK records have all occurred since 2000, underscoring a sustained upward trend in seasonal temperatures.
The Met Office’s analysis attributes the increased likelihood of such an extreme summer to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Attribution studies compare observed conditions with modelled scenarios of a "natural" climate to estimate how much more likely an event has become because of anthropogenic warming. In this case, the agency calculated that a summer matching or exceeding 2025’s heat is now about 70 times more probable than in the absence of those emissions.
Meteorologists said the season was also notable for dryness in many parts of the UK, a pattern consistent with projections of hotter, drier summers under a warming climate. The combination of higher average temperatures and extended dry spells can amplify stresses on water supplies, agriculture, and ecosystems, the Met Office noted in its reporting of the statistics.
The confirmation of summer 2025 as the warmest on record follows a series of hot summers across the UK and globally. Long-term climate records show that heat extremes and elevated seasonal means have become more frequent as global temperatures rise. The Met Office said its findings add to a growing body of evidence linking recent changes in UK summer climate to human-driven global warming.
The agency’s provisional statistics will feed into further analysis of regional impacts and longer-term trends. Finalised data and detailed reports are typically published after additional quality checks and assessments of regional variations. In the meantime, the record seasonal mean for 2025 is likely to inform public discussion and policymaking on climate adaptation and mitigation as officials and communities respond to increasing heat-related risks.