State of the UK Climate

The 2020 report is published as a special issue of the International Journal of Climatology, which is the Royal Meteorological Society journal of climate science.

Latest report 

• State of the UK Climate report - published online 29th July 2021

Highlights of the 2020 report

The UK's climate is changing

The 21st century has so far been warmer than the past 3 centuries¹

Temperature, rainfall and sunshine for 2020 were all in the top-ten highest on record – the first time this has happened in a single year.

2020 climate statistics

• One of the least snowy years on record²
• The number and severity of snow events has generally declined since the 1960s
• UK sea-level has risen by 16.5cm since the start of the 20th century
• The rate of sea level rise has recently increased and is now at 3mm per year³
• 9 of the 10 warmest years for UK near-coast sea-surface temperature have occurred since 2002⁴
• 8th sunniest year⁵
• Sunniest spring⁵
• Sunniest calendar month (May 2020)⁵
• 6.2 days longer lead season⁶
• 8th highest number of growing degree days⁷
• 5th wettest year⁸
• Wettest February (February 2020)^8,9
• Six of the top 10 wettest years have occured since 1998⁸
• 3rd warmest year¹⁰
• All of the top 10 warmest years have occured since 2002^10,1

UK decadal averages

The decade 2011-2020 was:

• 0.5 °C above 1981-2010 average
• 1.1 °C above 1961-1990 average

UK long-term averages

The period 1991-2020 was:

• 0.3 °C above 1981-2010 average
• 0.9 °C above 1961-1990 average

Warming has occurred across all months and all four UK nations

Previous reports (PDF format)

• State of the UK Climate 2019 - published online 31 July 2020
• State of the UK Climate 2018 - published online 31 July 2019
• State of the UK Climate 2017 Published online 31 July 2018
• State of the UK Climate 2017 Extremes Supplement Published online November 2018
• State of the UK Climate 2016 Published online 27 July 2017 and updated 1 August 2017
• State of the UK Climate 2016: Phenology supplement Published online 1 September 2017
• State of the UK climate 2015 Published online 25 July 2016
• State of the UK climate 2014 Published online 23 September 2015

Sources

¹Based on the Central England Temperature (CET) series from 1659

²Alongside 2019, 2016 and 2014 based on observations from 1959

³Based on the period 1993-2019

⁴In a UK near-coast SST series from 1870

⁵In a sunshine series for the UK from 1919

⁶Compared with a 1999-2019 baseline

⁷In a GDD series from 1960

⁸In a UK rainfall series from 1862

⁹In a rainfall series for England and Wales from 1766

¹⁰In a UK temperature series from 1884