Overview
- The national mean reached 10.09°C and sunshine totaled 1,648.5 hours, surpassing records set in 2022 and 2003, with England and Scotland setting their warmest years on record.
- Four of the last five years now rank in the UK’s top five warmest, and all of the top 10 warmest years have occurred in the past two decades.
- Persistent high-pressure systems and above-average sea temperatures drove prolonged dry, sunny conditions, with every month except January and September above average and the warmest spring and summer on record after the driest spring in over a century.
- The year saw four heatwaves, a peak of 35.8°C in Faversham, drought declarations, reservoir levels falling below 50%, hosepipe bans affecting nearly 10 million people, and parts of Sussex still officially in drought late in the year.
- Exceptional sunshine helped solar power supply more than 6% of Britain’s electricity in 2025, an increase of over 50% compared with recent years.