Summer likely to be hottest ever in UK

This summer is expected to be the warmest on record for the UK, the Met Office said yesterday after four heatwaves in the country since June.

- Helena Horton Sarah Butler

The mean temperature for summer is tracking at 16.13C (61.03F), which is significantly above the record of 15.76C set in 2018.

Many remember 1976 as being a scorching summer with a record heatwave, but this data would relegate that year out of the top five warmest summers since records began in 1884. It would mean all five of the warmest summers on record had occurred since 2000.

The Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: "Provisional Met Office statistics show that summer 2025 will almost certainly be the warmest summer on record. Unless temperatures are around four degrees below average for the rest of August, which the forecast does not suggest, it looks like the current record will be exceeded. Of course, there are still a few days left of meteorological summer to go, but it's very unlikely anything will stop summer 2025 from being the warmest on record."

The Met Office will officially announce the finalised temperatures on Monday 1 September, when the meteorological season, which began on 1 June, ends.