Met Office: 2023 is the second warmest year on record for UK since 1884

Last year was the second warmest for the UK since 1884, the Met Office has said. The national forecasters said three of the five warmest years were recorded in the last four years, including 2022, 2023, and 2020, with 10 warmest years that have occurred since 2003.

The average mean temperature of 9.97C across the UK in 2023 puts it second only to 2022, which had an average of 10.03C. The Met Office, which released provisional data for last year on Tuesday (January 2), also said both Wales and Northern Ireland had their warmest years on record.

Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said: “The observations of the UK climate are clear. Climate change is influencing UK temperature records over the long term, with 2023 going down as another very warm year and the second warmest on record. Had the 2023 value occurred during the 20th Century, it would have been, by far, the warmest year on record.

“While our climate will remain variable, with periods of cold and wet weather, what we have observed over recent decades is a number of high temperature records tumbling.

“We expect this pattern to continue as our climate continues to change in the coming years as a result of human-induced climate change.”

The Met Office said eight of the 12 months of the year were warmer than average for the UK while June and September were particularly warm compared to average.

It was the hottest June on record for the UK by a wide margin, said the forecasters, and the joint-hottest September as temperatures in the year peaked at 33.5°C on 10 September – only the fifth time this has happened in September in observational records.

The Met Office said 2023’s warmth was spearheaded by notable heatwaves in June and September and was backed up by above average temperatures for eight of the 12 months of the year.