State of the UK Climate

Annual publication which provides an up-to-date assessment of the UK climate

The 2024 report is published as a special issue of the International Journal of Climatology, which is the Royal Meteorological Society journal of climate science and provides a review of the climate and significant meteorological events of the year.

Latest report 

Highlights of the 2024 report

The latest assessment of the UK’s climate shows how baselines are shifting, records are becoming more frequent, and that temperature and rainfall extremes are becoming the norm. The report highlights how the UK’s climate has warmed steadily from the 1980s onwards, with the greatest implications from the increasing frequency and intensity of daily temperature extremes.  

  • The UK is warming: Since the 1980s the UK climate has been warming at a rate of approximately 0.25°C per decade. The last three years have all been in the UK’s top five warmest on record.

  • Extremes are increasing: Over recent decades, temperature extremes have increased, becoming more frequent and more intense. For example, the hottest summer days have warmed around twice as much as average summer days in some UK areas when comparing the latest decade to 1961-1990. 

  • Sea level rise is accelerating: UK sea levels have risen 19.5cm since 1901 with the last three years the three highest on record for annual mean sea level.

  • Winters are getting wetter: October 2023 to March 2024 was the wettest winter half-year on record. In a series from 1767, six of the ten wettest winter half-years (October to March) for England and Wales have been in the 21st Century so far.

  • Longer leaf-on season: The 2024 leaf-on season was 7 days longer than the 1999-2023 baseline. This was largely due to an earlier Spring.

  • Reduction in frost days: Air and ground frosts have reduced by around a quarter since the 1980s.

The report is based on observations from a network of several hundred weather stations, with temperature and rainfall data from these extending back to the 19th Century providing long term context. These data tell us how our climate has already changed here in the UK. 

 

Previous reports (PDF format)

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