Met Office: Summer 2025 was the hottest on record in the UK

Provisional Met Office statistics show that summer 2025 was the warmest on record in the United Kingdom, with a mean temperature of 16.10°C from June 1 to Aug. 31, the agency said. The new figure is 1.51°C above the long-term average and 0.34°C higher than the previous record set in 2018.

The Met Office said the persistent warmth this year was driven by a combination of dominant high-pressure systems, unusually warm seas around the UK and dry spring soils that allowed heat to build quickly and linger. Both daytime maximum and overnight minimum temperatures were considerably above average, contributing to the seasonal record.

Dr. Emily Carlisle, a Met Office scientist, said the statistics date back to 1884 and that the recalibration of the record pushes the summer of 1976 out of the top five warmest summers. All five of the warmest summers in that series have now occurred since 2000, the Met Office added.

Attribution research released alongside the Met Office analysis found that the kind of balmy weather experienced this summer was made about 70 times more likely by human-caused climate change. Under natural climate conditions, the analysis said, a summer this hot would be expected roughly once every 340 years; with current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, such temperatures may now return as frequently as once every five years.

"Our analysis suggests that while 2025 has set a new record, we could plausibly experience much hotter summers in our current and near-future climate," said Dr. Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office. "What would have been seen as extremes in the past are becoming more common in our changing climate."

Scientists noted that the record this year was not driven by a single extreme event but by sustained conditions across the three-month season. Warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures around the UK reduced the moderating effect of coastal waters, while an early-season dry spell left soils less able to cool the atmosphere through evaporation. Those factors combined with prevailing high pressure to produce both prolonged warm days and warm nights.

The record comes amid a long-term warming trend. The Met Office emphasised that the clustering of the warmest summers since 2000 is consistent with global temperature rise linked to increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and other human activities.

Researchers who conducted the attribution study said the findings reflect how climate change is shifting the probability of extreme seasonal temperatures rather than proving that any single season was "caused" solely by human activity. Attribution science assesses how much more likely an event has become given the current climate state.

Public reactions to the unusually warm summer were varied: some businesses and tourist destinations reported a boost from a season of strong domestic tourism, while health services and environmental agencies monitored the effects of prolonged heat and drought on vulnerable people, infrastructure and ecosystems. The Met Office and partner agencies continue to advise preparedness for heat-related impacts as hotter summers become more frequent.

The Met Office described the 2025 statistics as provisional; full, finalised records will be published following further quality checks and incorporation of additional observational data. Scientists said the updated figures will feed into ongoing work to refine regional climate projections and inform adaptation planning for heat, water resources and coastal management as part of broader efforts to respond to a warming climate.