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 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.

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.

Monthly temperature deviations from the long-term mean in the United Kingdom have varied greatly in recent years. In March 2025, average temperatures were one degree Celsius warmer than the long-term mean. In comparison, temperatures in March 2024 were 1.1 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.; ;

Average Rainfall (mm) and average Temperature (centigrade) for the North East England and East England Met Office Climate district, which includes Lincolnshire. This dataset shows the average Rainfall in millimetres and average Temperature in centigrade, by month, meteorological season, and annual calendar year. The data is sourced from the UK Met Office website. See the Source link for more information about the data and the area it covers.

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 dataset at 12 km resolution is derived from the associated 1 km x 1 km resolution to allow for comparison to data from climate projections. The dataset spans the period from 1836 to 2023, 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 v1.3.0.ceda HadUK-Grid datasets are as follows:

• Added data for calendar year 2023

• Added newly digitised data for daily rainfall (62 Scottish stations for 1945-1960)

• Daily rainfall data for Bolton, 1916-1919 have been corrected (previous values were corrupted and needed redigitising)

• Daily rainfall data for Buxton, 1960 have been corrected (conversion from inches to mm had been applied incorrectly)

• Rainfall data from EA and SEPA APIs are included for the last three months of the dataset (Oct-Dec 2023) (for all earlier months the rainfall data from partner agencies is obtained from the Met Office's MIDAS database)

• The number of stations used for groundfrost, sunshine and windspeed have reduced at different points in the historical series when comparing v1.3.0.ceda to the previous version v1.2.0.ceda. These reductions in station numbers have been caused by changes made in the data processing steps upstream of the gridding process.

• For groundfrost this reduction has been caused by an automated quality control process flagging the historical data which have been removed as suspect (mostly affecting data from 1961 to 1970).

• For sunshine the small reduction in the 1960s has been caused by the removal of digitized monthly sunshine data through this period where we wish to reverify the data source.

• For windspeed the reduction from 1969 to 2010 has been caused by changes to rules applied relating to data completeness when compiling daily mean windspeeds, which in turn have followed through to monthly statistics.

• We plan to carry out a review of the data which have been excluded from this version. Some of it may be reintroduced in a future release.

• Net changes to the input station data:

• Total of 126970983 observations

• 125384735 (98.75%) unchanged

• 28487 (0.02%) modified for this version

• 1557761 (1.23%) added in this version

• 188522 (0.15%) 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.

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 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.

The highest average temperatures in the United Kingdom are typically recorded in the third quarter of the year. Since 2010, the highest quarterly temperature was recorded in the third quarter of 2022, at 17 degrees Celsius.

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 maximum 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 'tmax' (temperature minimum) and the month. E.g. ‘tmax March’ is the average of the daily maximum 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 ‘tmax 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

This data-set contains 3 fields for each fixed period (1981-2000, 2001-2020) and Global Warming Level (1.5°C, 2°C, 2.5°C, 3°C, 3.5°C, 4°C) combination: the median, 2nd lowest and 2nd highest among the 12 ensemble members. The fields are named accordingly; e.g. the 2nd lowest at 2.5°C is tas_summer_25_lowerTo understand the data, refer to the LACS Scientific Detail.To understand how to explore the data, see the User Guides available on the Climate Data Portal.

This data-set contains 3 fields for each fixed period (1981-2000, 2001-2020) and Global Warming Level (1.5°C, 2°C, 2.5°C, 3°C, 3.5°C, 4°C) combination: the median, 2nd lowest and 2nd highest among the 12 ensemble members. The fields are named accordingly; e.g. the 2nd lowest at 2.5°C is tas_annual_25_lowerTo understand the data, refer to the LACS Scientific Detail.To understand how to explore the data, see the User Guides available on the Climate Data Portal.

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.