London: The UK could be set to have had its warmest year on record, possibly surpassing 2022 to take the top spot, the Met Office said. So far, the average annual temperature is tracking at 10.05 degrees Celsius, ahead of the previous record of 10.03 degrees set in 2022. If confirmed, 2025 will be only the second year in observational records where the UK's annual mean temperature has topped 10 degrees.
According to Emirates News Agency, four of the last five years will then appear in the top five warmest years since records began in 1884, with all of the top 10 warmest years occurring in the last two decades. A new record has been previously set for the UK annual mean temperature five times this century - in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014, and 2022.
Mike Kendon, a Senior Scientist at the Met Office, stated, "At this stage it looks more likely than not that 2025 will be confirmed as the warmest year on record for the UK." Professor of Climate Science Friederike Otto remarked, "The finding is devastating and utterly unsurprising, 10C might not sound very warm, but it is an average and means much higher temperatures in the summer, high temperatures that would have never been possible are now common and that is not good news."