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 average temperature across the United Kingdom presented a trend of continuous growth since 1961. During the first period, from 1961 to 1990, the country recorded an average temperature of *** degrees Celsius. In the next period, from 1991 to 2020, the UK's average temperature increased by *** degrees Celsius and increased further by *** degrees Celsius between 2014 and 2023. In the latter year, figures remained at ** degrees Celsius, *** degrees warmer than the average recorded between 1961 and 1990, illustrating the effects of climate change. Nevertheless, 2022 was the warmest year in the United Kingdom.

Temperature in the United Kingdom decreased to 9.88 celsius in 2024 from 10.14 celsius in 2023. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Average Temperature.

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 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 April 2025, the UK recorded a mean temperature of *** degrees Celsius, slightly higher than the temperature recorded the same month a year prior.

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.

This file contains average rainfall (mm) and average temperature (centigrade) for the North East England and East England for period 2010-2019.

This dataset shows the average rainfall in millimeters and average temperature in centigrade by month, year, and meteorological season. It also has an annual figure for each year.

Monthly temperature deviations from the long-term mean in the United Kingdom have varied greatly in recent years. In July 2025, average temperatures were 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term mean. In comparison, temperatures in July 2024 were 0.5 degrees Celsius colder 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.

This dataset shows the averaged current average temperature presented to sites across the UK from temperatures degrees per day, based on data collected from a 1981-2010 baseline period. The dataset shows the likelihood of a temperature hazard event distributed across 5km hexagonal grids.

What does the data show?

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

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 the average over the 1991-2020 period. It is named 'tas' (temperature at surface).

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

Data source:

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

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

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Filename: tas_hadukgrid_uk_12km_ann-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 annual mean temperature in the United Kingdom has fluctuated greatly since 1990. Temperatures during this period were at their highest in 2022, 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.

Precipitation in the United Kingdom decreased to 1275.23 mm in 2024 from 1405.56 mm in 2023. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Average Precipitation.

United Kingdom UK: Average Precipitation in Depth data was reported at 1,220.000 mm/Year in 2014. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1,220.000 mm/Year for 2012. United Kingdom UK: Average Precipitation in Depth data is updated yearly, averaging 1,220.000 mm/Year from Dec 1962 (Median) to 2014, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,220.000 mm/Year in 2014 and a record low of 1,220.000 mm/Year in 2014. United Kingdom UK: Average Precipitation in Depth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Average precipitation is the long-term average in depth (over space and time) of annual precipitation in the country. Precipitation is defined as any kind of water that falls from clouds as a liquid or a solid.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; ;

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. These data at 1 km resolution have been averaged across a set of discrete geographies defining UK river basins consistent with data from UKCP18 climate projections. The dataset spans the period from 1836 to 2024, 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. (2019, see linked documentation).

The changes for v1.3.1.ceda HadUK-Grid datasets are as follows:

Changes to the dataset * Added data for calendar year 2024 * Extended the daily temperature grids back to 1931

Changes to the input data * Incorporated additional daily rainfall data for 60 sites in Scotland, 1922-45 * Incorporated additional monthly rainfall data for two sites - Westonbirt (1880-1951) & Ackworth School (1852-53) * Fixed a 1-day offset for sunshine duration values for six stations between 1971 and 1993 * Corrected the daily rainfall data for Macclesfield, 1958-60 (the values had been stored in the wrong units) * Improved the quality control of the most recent three months of rainfall data (Oct-Dec 2024) * Removed Corpach from the wind speed grids (the station is poorly modelled - this only affects 14 months) * Reviewed the quality control flags that had been applied automatically to historical air and grass minimum temperature data. In many cases it was possible to remove the flags and this has allowed us to incorporate additional data into the grids for 1961-1997 for these variables. * Improved the business logic relating to data completeness. This affects monthly wind speed and has allowed us to re-introduce some of the data that were excluded in the previous release.

• Net changes to the input station data:
  • Total of 131314637 observations
  • 126821432 (96.6%) unchanged
  • 105327 (0.08%) modified for this version
  • 4387878 (3.34%) added in this version
  • 44224 (0.03%) 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.

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

The UK soil temperature data contain daily and hourly values of soil temperatures at depths of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 centimetres. The measurements were recorded by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within NCM or DLY3208 messages. The data spans from 1900 to 2021.

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 2021.

At many stations temperatures below the surface are measured at various depths. The depths used today are 5, 10, 20, 30 and 100cm, although measurements are not necessarily made at all these depths at a station and exceptionally measurements may be made at other depths. When imperial units were in general use, typically before 1961, the normal depths of measurement were 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 inches.

Liquid-in-glass soil thermometers at a depth of 20 cm or less are unsheathed and have a bend in the stem between the bulb and the lowest graduation. At greater depths the thermometer is suspended in a steel tube and has its bulb encased in wax.

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.

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)

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 2024, 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. (2019, see linked documentation).

The changes for v1.3.1.ceda HadUK-Grid datasets are as follows:

Changes to the dataset * Added data for calendar year 2024 * Extended the daily temperature grids back to 1931

Changes to the input data * Incorporated additional daily rainfall data for 60 sites in Scotland, 1922-45 * Incorporated additional monthly rainfall data for two sites - Westonbirt (1880-1951) & Ackworth School (1852-53) * Fixed a 1-day offset for sunshine duration values for six stations between 1971 and 1993 * Corrected the daily rainfall data for Macclesfield, 1958-60 (the values had been stored in the wrong units) * Improved the quality control of the most recent three months of rainfall data (Oct-Dec 2024) * Removed Corpach from the wind speed grids (the station is poorly modelled - this only affects 14 months) * Reviewed the quality control flags that had been applied automatically to historical air and grass minimum temperature data. In many cases it was possible to remove the flags and this has allowed us to incorporate additional data into the grids for 1961-1997 for these variables. * Improved the business logic relating to data completeness. This affects monthly wind speed and has allowed us to re-introduce some of the data that were excluded in the previous release.

• Net changes to the input station data:
  • Total of 131314637 observations
  • 126821432 (96.6%) unchanged
  • 105327 (0.08%) modified for this version
  • 4387878 (3.34%) added in this version
  • 44224 (0.03%) 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.

This dataset shows the future average temperature presented to sites across the UK from temperatures per day, based on data for a 2060-2080 projection period. The dataset shows the likelihood of a temperature hazard event distributed across 5km hexagonal grids.