The highest average temperature recorded in 2024 until November was in August, at 16.8 degrees Celsius. Since 2015, the highest average daily temperature in the UK was registered in July 2018, at 18.7 degrees Celsius. The summer of 2018 was the joint hottest since institutions began recording temperatures in 1910. One noticeable anomaly during this period was in December 2015, when the average daily temperature reached 9.5 degrees Celsius. This month also experienced the highest monthly rainfall in the UK since before 2014, with England, Wales, and Scotland suffering widespread flooding. Daily hours of sunshine Unsurprisingly, the heat wave that spread across the British Isles in 2018 was the result of particularly sunny weather. July 2018 saw an average of 8.7 daily sun hours in the United Kingdom. This was more hours of sun than was recorded in July 2024, which only saw 5.8 hours of sun. Temperatures are on the rise Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in regional temperatures across the UK. Between 1961 and 1990, temperatures in England averaged nine degrees Celsius, and from 2013 to 2022, average temperatures in the country had increased to 10.3 degrees Celsius. Due to its relatively southern location, England continues to rank as the warmest country in the UK.

The monthly mean temperature in the United Kingdom is typically highest in July and August. During this period, the monthly mean temperature peaked in July 2018, at *****degrees Celsius. In September 2025, the UK recorded a mean temperature of **** degrees Celsius, slightly higher than the temperature recorded the same month a year prior.

England's highest monthly mean air temperatures are typically recorded in July and August of each year. Since 2015, the warmest mean temperature was measured in July 2018 at 18.8 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, February of that same year registered the coolest temperature, at 2.6 degrees Celsius. In September 2025, the mean air temperature was 13.8 degrees Celsius, matching the figure recorded the same month the previous year. The English weather England is the warmest region in the United Kingdom and the driest. In 2024, the average annual temperature in England amounted to 10.73 degrees Celsius – around 1.1 degrees above the national mean. That same year, precipitation in England stood at about 1,020 millimeters. By contrast, Scotland – the wettest region in the UK – recorded over 1,500 millimeters of rainfall in 2024. Temperatures on the rise Throughout the last decades, the average temperature in the United Kingdom has seen an upward trend, reaching a record high in 2022. Global temperatures have experienced a similar pattern over the same period. This gradual increase in the Earth's average temperature is primarily due to various human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, which lead to the emission of greenhouse gases. This phenomenon has severe consequences, including more frequent and intense weather events, rising sea levels, and adverse effects on human health and the environment.

The annual mean temperature in the United Kingdom has fluctuated greatly since 1990. Temperatures during this period were at their highest in 2025, surpassing ** degrees Celsius. In 2010, the mean annual temperature stood at **** degrees, the lowest recorded during this time. Daily temperatures Average daily temperatures have remained stable since the turn of the century, rarely dropping below ** degrees Celsius. In 2010, they dropped to a low of **** degrees Celsius. The peak average daily temperature was recorded in 2022 when it reached **** degrees. This was an increase of *** degree Celsius compared to the long-term mean, and the most positive deviation during the period of consideration. Highs and lows The maximum average temperature recorded across the UK since 2015 was in July 2018. This month saw a maximum temperature of **** degrees Celsius. In comparison, the lowest monthly minimum temperature was in February of the same year, at just minus *** degrees. This was an especially cold February, as the previous year the minimum temperature for this month was *** degrees.

The UK daily temperature data contain maximum and minimum temperatures (air, grass and concrete slab) measured over a period of up to 24 hours. The measurements were recorded by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within NCM, DLY3208 or AWSDLY messages. The data span from 1853 to 2023. For details on measurement techniques, including calibration information and changes in measurements, see section 5.2 of the MIDAS User Guide linked to from this record. Soil temperature data may be found in the UK soil temperature datasets linked from this record.

This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. These include the addition of data for calendar year 2023.

This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Currently this represents approximately 95% of available daily temperature observations within the full MIDAS collection.

Monthly temperature deviations from the long-term mean in the United Kingdom have varied greatly in recent years. In August 2025, average temperatures were 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term mean. In comparison, temperatures in August 2024 were 0.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term mean. The most notable deviation during this period was in December 2015, when temperatures were 4.3 degrees warmer than normal.

308 warm weather destinations in April with 30-year average climate data including temperature, sunshine hours, rainfall, and flight times from UK

What does the data show?

This data shows the monthly averages of surface temperature (°C) for 2040-2069 using a combination of the CRU TS (v. 4.06) and UKCP18 global RCP2.6 datasets. The RCP2.6 scenario is an aggressive mitigation scenario where greenhouse gas emissions are strongly reduced.

The data combines a baseline (1981-2010) value from CRU TS (v. 4.06) with an anomaly from UKCP18 global. Where the anomaly is the change in temperature at 2040-2069 relative to 1981-2010.

The data is provided on the WGS84 grid which measures approximately 60km x 60km (latitude x longitude) at the equator.

Limitations of the data

We recommend the use of multiple grid cells or an average of grid cells around a point of interest to help users get a sense of the variability in the area. This will provide a more robust set of values for informing decisions based on the data.

What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?

This data contains a field for each month’s average over the period. They are named 'tas' (temperature at surface), the month and ‘upper’ ‘median’ or ‘lower’. E.g. ‘tas Mar Lower’ is the average of the daily average temperatures in March throughout 2040-2069, in the second lowest ensemble member.

To understand how to explore the data, see this page: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/457e7a2bc73e40b089fac0e47c63a578

Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘tas Jan Median’ values.

What do the ‘median’, ‘upper’, and ‘lower’ values mean?

Climate models are numerical representations of the climate system. To capture uncertainty in projections for the future, an ensemble, or group, of climate models are run. Each ensemble member has slightly different starting conditions or model set-ups. Considering all of the model outcomes gives users a range of plausible conditions which could occur in the future.

To select which ensemble members to use, the monthly averages of surface temperature for the period 2040-2069 were calculated for each ensemble member and they were then ranked in order from lowest to highest for each location.

The ‘lower’ fields are the second lowest ranked ensemble member. The ‘upper’ fields are the second highest ranked ensemble member. The ‘median’ field is the central value of the ensemble.

This gives a median value, and a spread of the ensemble members indicating the range of possible outcomes in the projections. This spread of outputs can be used to infer the uncertainty in the projections. The larger the difference between the lower and upper fields, the greater the uncertainty.

Data source

CRU TS v. 4.06 - (downloaded 12/07/22)

UKCP18 v.20200110 (downloaded 17/08/22)

Useful links

Further information on CRU TS Further information on the UK Climate Projections (UKCP) Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal

Site specific (293 individual stations) monthly average (1981 - 2010) The data consists of: Max Temp (degrees C) Min Temp (degrees C) Sunshine (hours) Rainfall (mm) Raindays >=1.0mm (days) Days of Air Frost (days) Monthly mean wind speeds at 10m (knots) District and Region monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010) The data consists of: Max Temp (degrees C) Min Temp (degrees C) Sunshine (hours) Rainfall (mm) Raindays >=1.0mm (days) Days of Air Frost (days) UK monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010) The data consists of: Max Temp (degrees C) Min Temp (degrees C) Sunshine (hours) Rainfall (mm) Raindays >=1.0mm (days) Days of Air Frost (days)

Site specific (293 individual stations) monthly average (1981 - 2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days) 
        Monthly mean wind speeds at 10m (knots)

        District and Region monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days)

        UK monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days)

What does the data show?

This data shows the monthly averages of surface temperature (°C) for 1981-2010 from CRU TS (v. 4.06) dataset. It is provided on the WGS84 grid which measures approximately 60km x 60km (latitude x longitude) at the equator. This is the same as the 60km grid used by UKCP18 global datasets.

What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?

This data contains a field for each month’s average over the period. They are named 'tas' (temperature at surface) and the month. E.g. ‘tas March’ is the average of the daily average surface air temperatures in March throughout 1981-2010.

To understand how to explore the data, see this page: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/457e7a2bc73e40b089fac0e47c63a578

Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘tas January’ values.

Data source

CRU TS v. 4.06 - (downloaded 12/07/22)

Useful links

Further information on CRU TS Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal

ukcp09-Gridded datasets based on surface observations have been generated for a range of climatic variables. The primary purpose of this data resource is to encourage and facilitate research into climate change impacts and adaptation. This data set includes monthly ukcp09-Gridded datasets at 5 x 5 km resolution. A grid for each month covering the whole of the UK, downloadable in 10-year blocks. The datasets have been created with financial support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they are being promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/content/view/12/689/. To view this data you will have to register on the Met Office website, here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/UKCP09/register

What does the data show?

The data shows monthly averages of surface temperature (°C) for 1991-2020 from HadUK gridded data. It is provided on a 12km British National Grid (BNG).

Limitations of the dataWe recommend the use of multiple grid cells or an average of grid cells around a point of interest to help users get a sense of the variability in the area. This will provide a more robust set of values for informing decisions based on the data.What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?

This data contains a field for each month’s average over the period. They are named 'tas' (temperature at surface) and the month. E.g. 'tas March' is the average surface temperature for March in the period 1991-2020.

To understand how to explore the data, see this page: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/457e7a2bc73e40b089fac0e47c63a578

Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘tas January’ values.

Data source:

·
Version: HadUK-Grid v1.1.0.0 (downloaded 21/06/2022)

·
Source: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/652cea3b8b4446f7bff73be0ce99ba0f

·
Filename: tas_hadukgrid_uk_12km_mon-30y_199101-202012.nc

Useful links

·
Further information on HadUK-Grid

·
Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal

The daily average temperature in the United Kingdom (UK) has remained relatively stable since 2001, with temperatures rarely straying below 10 degrees Celsius. In 2024, the UK had an average daily temperature of 11.9 degrees Celsius. This was the highest average daily temperature recorded since the turn of the century. British summertime Britain is not known for its blisteringly hot summer months, with the average temperatures in this season varying greatly since 1990. In 1993, the average summer temperature was as low as 13.39 degrees Celsius, whilst 2018 saw a peak of 15.8 degrees Celsius. In that same year, the highest mean temperature occurred in July at 17.2 degrees Celsius. Variable weather Due to its location and the fact that it is an island, the United Kingdom experiences a diverse range of weather, sometimes in the same day. It is in an area where five air masses meet, creating a weather front. Each brings different weather conditions, such as hot, dry air from North Africa and wet and cold air from the Arctic. Temperatures across the UK tend to be warmest in England.

The Met Office Hadley Centre's sea ice and sea surface temperature (SST) data set, HadISST1, replaces the Global sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature (GISST) data sets, and is a unique combination of monthly globally-complete fields of SST and sea ice concentration on a 1 degree latitude-longitude grid from 1870 to date. WARNING: 10 March 2016: A detailed analysis of HadISST (https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/58385) has identified a number of problems, some of which might limit the utility of the dataset for certain scientific applications, particularly where high resolution SST data or spatial gradients of SST are required. Thanks to Dudley Chelton and Craig Risien for bringing this to our attention and their detailed analysis. The SST data are taken from the Met Office Marine Data Bank (MDB), which from 1982 onwards also includes data received through the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). In order to enhance data coverage, monthly median SSTs for 1871-1995 from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) (now ICOADS) were also used where there were no MDB data. HadISST1 temperatures are reconstructed using a two stage reduced-space optimal interpolation procedure, followed by superposition of quality-improved gridded observations onto the reconstructions to restore local detail. SSTs near sea ice are estimated using statistical relationships between SST and sea ice concentration. Data restrictions: for academic research use only. Updates and supplementary information will be available from http://www.hadobs.org

What does the data show?

This data shows the monthly averages of minimum surface temperature (°C) for 1981-2010 from CRU TS (v. 4.06) dataset. It is provided on the WGS84 grid which measures approximately 60km x 60km (latitude x longitude) at the equator. This is the same as the 60km grid used by UKCP18 global datasets.

What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?

This data contains a field for each month’s average over the period. They are named 'tmin' (temperature minimum) and the month. E.g. ‘tmin March’ is the average of the daily minimum temperatures in March throughout 1981-2010.

To understand how to explore the data, see this page: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/457e7a2bc73e40b089fac0e47c63a578

Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘tmin January’ values.

Data source

CRU TS v. 4.06 - (downloaded 12/07/22)

Useful links

Further information on CRU TS Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal

HadUK-Grid is a collection of gridded climate variables derived from the network of UK land surface observations. The data have been interpolated from meteorological station data onto a uniform grid to provide complete and consistent coverage across the UK. The datasets cover the UK at 1 km x 1 km resolution. These 1 km x 1 km data have been used to provide a range of other resolutions and across countries, administrative regions and river basins to allow for comparison to data from UKCP18 climate projections. The dataset spans the period from 1836 to 2021, but the start time is dependent on climate variable and temporal resolution.

The gridded data are produced for daily, monthly, seasonal and annual timescales, as well as long term averages for a set of climatological reference periods. Variables include air temperature (maximum, minimum and mean), precipitation, sunshine, mean sea level pressure, wind speed, relative humidity, vapour pressure, days of snow lying, and days of ground frost.

This data set supersedes the previous versions of this dataset which also superseded UKCP09 gridded observations. Subsequent versions may be released in due course and will follow the version numbering as outlined by Hollis et al. (2018, see linked documentation).

The changes for v1.1.0.0 HadUK-Grid datasets are as follows:

• The addition of data for calendar year 2021

• The addition of 30 year averages for the new reference period 1991-2020

• An update to 30 year averages for 1961-1990 and 1981-2010. This is an order of operation change. In this version 30 year averages have been calculated from the underlying monthly/seasonal/annual grids (grid-then-average) in previous version they were grids of interpolated station average (average-then-grid). This order of operation change results in small differences to the values, but provides improved consistency with the monthly/seasonal/annual series grids. However this order of operation change means that 1961-1990 averages are not included for sfcWind or snowlying variables due to the start date for these variables being 1969 and 1971 respectively.

• A substantial new collection of monthly rainfall data have been added for the period before 1960. These data originate from the rainfall rescue project (Hawkins et al. 2022) and this source now accounts for 84% of pre-1960 monthly rainfall data, and the monthly rainfall series has been extended back to 1836.

Net changes to the input station data used to generate this dataset:

-Total of 122664065 observations

-118464870 (96.5%) unchanged

-4821 (0.004%) modified for this version

-4194374 (3.4%) added in this version

-5887 (0.005%) deleted from this version

The primary purpose of these data are to facilitate monitoring of UK climate and research into climate change, impacts and adaptation. The datasets have been created by the Met Office with financial support from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in order to support the Public Weather Service Customer Group (PWSCG), the Hadley Centre Climate Programme, and the UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) project. The output from a number of data recovery activities relating to 19th and early 20th Century data have been used in the creation of this dataset, these activities were supported by: the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme; the Natural Environment Research Council project "Analysis of historic drought and water scarcity in the UK"; the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Strategic Priorities Fund UK Climate Resilience programme; The UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Public Engagement programme; the National Centre for Atmospheric Science; National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the NERC GloSAT project; and the contribution of many thousands of public volunteers. The dataset is provided under Open Government Licence.

Average temperature and total rainfall in England and Wales : 1845 to 2012. Annual and seasonal outflow and rainfall estimates for the United Kingdom and its component countries since 1961.

Rainfall figures are available from the National River Flow Archive - monthly hydrological updates.

The Environment Agency also publish monthly water situation reports for England.

Discontinued - superceded by http://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/nrfa/ & https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/water-situation-reports-for-england