Provisional figures from the Met Office reveal that 2014 was the warmest in the UK since records began in 1910, with temperatures 1.1°C above the long-term (1981-2010) average. Last year was also the fourth wettest in the UK.
The average 2014 temperature in the UK was 9.9°C, surpassing the previous record warmest year in 2006, when the mean was 9.7°C. The high average temperature last year also means eight of the 10 warmest years in the UK have occurred since 2002.
The Met Office data shows that 2014 was the warmest year on record in every part of the UK except Northern Ireland. The weather and climate service also reports that last year was the warmest in the UK since 1659, according to the Central England Temperature series, which is the world’s longest running instrumental temperature series. The mean figure in 1659 was 10.93°C.
Total rainfall across the UK in 2014 was 1,297.1mm, says the Met Office, confirming that five of the UK’s top six wettest years have happened since 2000. The 12 months to December was one of the 20 wettest periods recorded by the England and Wales precipitation series, which dates back to 1766.
The rainfall data shows that January and February 2014 were very wet compared with previous years, while May, October and November were also wetter than the UK average.
In December, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) forecast that 2014 would be Europe’s warmest year on record. It estimated that the January–December annual mean temperature for the continent would be 0.3°C above the previous record set in 2007. The WMO said all but one of the 10 warmest years have been since 2000, with the only exception, 1989, in sixth place.
