UK sees warmest spring on record, driest in over 50 years

LONDON - The UK has recorded its warmest spring on record and its driest in over five decades, provisional figures showed, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

Data from the Met Office, the UK's national meteorological service, revealed that this spring’s average temperature was recorded at 9.5°C (49.1°F), which is 1.4°C above the long-term climatological average, making it the warmest spring since records began in 1884. 

A person skateboards with a dog as people exercise and enjoy the sunshine in Battersea Park, south west London on May 31, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

Eight of the 10 warmest springs in the UK have occurred in the past 25 years, while the three warmest have all been recorded since 2017, the agency said in a statement.

The country also experienced its driest spring in over five decades this year, making it the sixth driest spring since 1836.

With only 128.2 millimetres (5 inches) of rainfall, this spring was 40 per cent below the long-term average, according to the Met Office.

Waters around the country have also experienced a heatwave, with sea surface temperatures reaching record highs during the last two months of spring - April and May - said the agency.

It warned that some areas have been as much as 4°C warmer than usual, creating unprecedented conditions in the country's coastal waters.

Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said the UK's climate continues to change, adding that what is particularly notable about spring 2025 is the combination of record warmth and sunshine alongside very low rainfall.

"This spring shows some of the changes we're seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions, including prolonged dry, sunny weather, becoming more frequent," she noted.

"The data clearly show that recent decades have been warmer, sunnier, and often drier than the 20th-century average, although natural variation will continue to play a role in the UK’s weather," Carlisle added. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU