‘Unprecedented’ changes in UK climate are normalising extremes, report says

In Greater London, the number of days over 30C and nights over 18C more than quadrupled in the last decade, compared with 1961-1990. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images View image in fullscreen In Greater London, the number of days over 30C and nights over 18C more than quadrupled in the last decade, compared with 1961-1990. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images ‘Unprecedented’ changes in UK climate are normalising extremes, report says Annual State of the UK Climate analysis finds last four years in UK are in top five hottest on record The UK’s climatic extremes are becoming increasingly normal, a report has found, with last year the hottest on record and further “unprecedented changes” likely to break the record again soon. Data stretching back to 1884 shows the UK has never experienced a year as hot as 2025, according to the annual State of the UK Climate report, with temperatures pushed to dizzying heights by carbon pollution clogging the atmosphere. UK map comparing 1961-90 and 2016-25 temperatures The country experienced its warmest spring and summer on record last year, while England was hit by its driest spring in a century. The report comes as the UK faces the third deadly heatwave to have scorched Europe over the last two months. On Tuesday, the Met Office said the UK had already recorded as many 30C (86F) days in 2026 as in the extraordinarily hot year of 1976 . “What we used to think of as extreme, we increasingly consider as normal,” said Mike Kendon, a scientist at the National Climate Information Centre and lead author of the report. “We are seeing unprecedented changes continuing … and every year adds to this body of evidence.” UK map showing high temperatures in south-east England The report, published on Wednesday in the International Journal of Climatology, found the last four years in the UK were among the top five hottest on record, with higher averages from climate breakdown making dangerous extremes hotter. In an area stretching from Kent in the south-east to Lincolnshire in the East Midlands, the average hottest day of the year was 4.5C (8.1F) warmer in the last decade than in 1961-1990, the report found. In Greater London, the number of days over 30C and nights over 18C more than quadrupled over the same period. Colder northern parts of the country were now experiencing temperatures that London had decades ago, the scientists said Graph of days above 30C in London 1930-2025 “Our climate is on the move – literally,” said Kendon. “The trend shows that in the 1980s, annual average temperatures of 11C were virtually unknown in the UK, yet by 2025 almost a fifth of the land surface reached that value.” Warm air can hold about 7% more moisture for each degree celsius of warming, allowing for heavier rainfall, which is more likely to lead to floods. The report found the number of the very wettest days has risen by more than 20% since the 1961-1990 period, while rainfall intensity has risen by 5%. skip past newsletter promotion after new