September 1, 2025

expert reaction to Met Office confirming 2025 was the UK’s warmest summer on record

Scientists comment on the Met Office confirming that 2025 was the UKs warmest summer on record. 

Prof Tim Palmer, Royal Society Research Professor Emeritus in Climate Physics, University of Oxford, said:

“The record-breaking temperatures this summer are the result of two factors: climate change, which is warming the whole planet, and the exceptionally long-lived dry, anticyclonic weather conditions which started at the beginning of spring and continued right through the summer. These conditions led to a drying out of the land surface already in spring (meaning that in the summer, the Sun’s energy was more used to raise land temperatures and less used to evaporate moisture from the surface).

“We don’t know whether these multi-season anticyclonic conditions could themselves be caused by climate change (current-generation climate models have difficulty simulating long-lived anticyclonic conditions).  In all likelihood they are simply part of the natural variability of climate. However, if not, then the problem of ensuring we have enough water in our reservoirs becomes a critically important one – yet another reason why improving our climate models is important to ensure we do not maladapt to climate change.”

Prof Richard Allan, climate scientist at the University of Reading, said:

“Sustained warmth with multiple short-lived, regional heatwaves in 2025 culminated in the warmest UK summer in the observational record, building on the extremely dry spring. Hotter summers are consistent with long term heating from rising greenhouse gases due to human activities, with an additional boost from declining unhealthy particle pollution that has allowed more of the previously scattered sunlight to bake the ground.

“It was a warmer summer even than the iconic 1976 though in contrast the heat of 2025 extended over a much wider area of western Europe and was accompanied by a record burned area from wildfire. However, the length of heatwaves this year did not match the one experienced nearly 50 years ago and if weather patterns that like those that developed in 1976 occurred again in a future summer, the intensity of the heat will be much more dangerous still.

“The only way to limit the growing severity of heatwaves, and the intensity of dry or wet weather extremes, is to rapidly cut our greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of society.”

Dr Jess Neumann, associate professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, said: 

“Many would say that this has been a “good UK summer” with lots of warm and dry weather painting a picture of ice creams, beach days and BBQs in the sunshine. 

“However this is not the case for everyone and recent studies indicate that there have been hundreds of heat-related deaths during the UK summer heatwaves. 

“It’s not just during days of extreme heat that people are affected, but consistently above average temperatures throughout the day and night can put pressure on the human body, leading to health conditions such as dehydration, headaches and heat exhaustion. 

“The lack of rainfall has also had a knock-on effect to public water supply, agriculture and the environment. Hosepipe bans are still in place across parts of the country, farmers have had to harvest crops early due to drought, pollutants in rivers are at critical levels and wildlife is suffering due to a lack of freshwater. 

“Parts of the UK will be in significant trouble if a dry winter follows this summer, as we desperately need rainfall to restock our rivers and reservoirs and recharge our aquifers.

“Whilst on the face of it, a hot and dry summer may be viewed as a good thing by some, in the long term it raises serious questions about where we need to invest in infrastructure, how we manage our water, and what we will need to do to cope with a changing climate.”

Declared interests

Jess Neumann: “None to declare.”

Richard Allan: “no conflicts of interest”