2025 is already the UK’s sunniest year on record, according to the Met Office

The UK recorded 1,622 hours of sunshine up until December 15, beating its previous sunniest year set in 2003, in a series which dates back to 1910.

England too has already had its sunniest year on record, already topping its previous record figure set in 2003.

January started the year on a sunny note, before below-average sunshine figures in February helped develop a duller meteorological winter in 2024/25 than average.

Spring outshone all the seasons with the sunniest spring on record, and the fourth sunniest season on record, beaten by just three summers, 1911, 1976 and 1995.

Summer was also sunnier than average whilst autumn saw below-average sunshine amounts.

Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said: “The record-breaking sunshine across the UK this year was driven by the frequent influence of high pressure that reduced cloud cover and brought sunny skies for many.

“Spring was exceptional, and many will remember the long spells of days with largely unbroken sunshine. It began with the third-sunniest March on record, followed by a record-breaking sunniest April and then the second-sunniest May. All three months of the summer also saw above-average sunshine hours and while sunny periods are not unusual at this time of year, the duration and consistency of high-pressure systems made 2025 notably sunnier than average.

“So far this year, only the months of February and October have recorded below-average sunshine hours.”

Provisional Met Office statistics for 2025 so far show this has been another extremely warm year for the UK, with overall rainfall totals below average.