Last year was Britain’s hottest and sunniest on record, the national weather service confirmed on Friday, calling it a “clear demonstration” of the impacts of climate change.

“2025 now joins 2022 and 2023 in the top three warmest years since 1884,” the Met Office said in a statement, noting the United Kingdom’s mean temperature through last year was 10.09C.

“This is an increasingly clear demonstration of the impacts of climate change on UK temperatures,” it added.

“It is also only the second year in this series where the UK’s annual mean temperature has exceeded 10.0C.” The previous record of 10.03C was set in 2022.

It means four of the UK’s last five years now appear in the top five warmest years since 1884, and all of the top ten hottest years will now have occurred in the last two decades.

The Met Office had already announced last month that 2025 was the country’s sunniest year since that record series began in 1910.

The UK — which comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — saw 1648.5 hours of sunshine, 61.4 hours more than the previous record set in 2003.

‘Exceptional’ sunshine

An “exceptional” amount of sunshine during the spring followed by long spells of clear skies during the summer helped set the record, the Met Office has noted.

But while England saw an unprecedented amount of sunshine, it was only the second sunniest in Scotland and Wales and the eighth sunniest in Northern Ireland.

Mark McCarthy, the Met Office’s head of climate attribution, said the “very warm” year was “in line with expected consequences of human-induced climate change”.

“Although it doesn’t mean every year will be the warmest on record, it is clear from our weather observations and climate models that human-induced global warming is impacting the UK’s climate,” he added.

The country experienced persistent spells of dry and sunny weather in 2025, with every month except January and September warmer than average.

Spring and then a summer featuring four heatwaves were Britain’s warmest on record, while spring was the driest in more than a century.

Droughts were declared in several regions, reservoir sites fell below 50 per cent of their usual capacity and a handful of water companies issued bans on using hosepipes.

Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: “Meteorologically, the warmth has been driven largely by persistent high-pressure systems bringing prolonged dry, sunny conditions, alongside above-average sea temperatures around the UK.

“These factors have combined to keep temperatures consistently higher than normal for much of the year.“