Britain’s climate is on the MOVE: Warming is shifting north and uphill, scientists warn

Britain’s climate is on the move, a new report has revealed. 

Historically, the north of the UK has been cold, while the south has been warmer. 

However, the new State of the UK Climate report warns that the entire country is now suffering from extreme heat. 

Conditions in northern areas now resemble those in London 50 years ago. 

Meanwhile, people living in the south are being scorched in even warmer climates, the researchers say. 

‘Think of this warming as moving north and uphill, with areas like the Vale of York and Lancashire now having similar annual temperatures to those experienced by Greater London in 1961–1990,’ explained, Mike Kendo, the Met Office lead author of the report.

‘In the south east we are seeing the emergence of new warmer climates, while in our northern upland areas we are losing the climatologically coldest habitats from the tops of our mountains. 

‘Our climate is on the move – literally.’

Britain’s climate is on the move, a new report has revealed. Historically, the north of the UK has been cold, while the south has been warmer. However, the new State of the UK Climate report warns that the entire country is now suffering from extreme heat

The report analysed the state of the UK climate in 2025, which was the UK’s hottest year on record. 

‘The last four years are all in the top five warmest years,’ Mr Kendon explained. 

‘With warming at around 0.25°C per decade since the 1980s, it seems likely this record will be broken again in a matter of years.’

According to the researchers, what is particularly concerning is how temperature extremes are being affected – something we’re still seeing this year.    

‘In parts of the south-east, the hottest day of the year has warmed by 4.5°C, three times that of annual mean temperature, and we are now coming to expect 35°C at some point in a hot spell in summer,’ Mr Kendon said. 

‘Yet, despite historic heatwaves like 1976, overall temperatures as high as this were comparatively unusual in the 20th Century – back then we did not reach even 30°C, anywhere in the UK, in approximately one year in every five.

‘As an illustration, the number of days of over 30°C has quadrupled in areas such as Greater London.

‘Every year is adding to the body of evidence showing climate change in the UK. 

The report analysed the state of the UK climate in 2025, which was the UK’s hottest year on record

‘We are right now living in a time of historic and unprecedented change and in terms of temperature, on annual, seasonal, monthly and daily timescales, this evidence shows climate of the 20th Century has now gone.’

The news comes as experts confirmed that 1976’s 30°C record has been broken.

Scientists at Reading University have recorded 15 days over 30°C so far this year, following a run of heatwaves that have left the nation sweltering.

This has overtaken the previous record of 14 days recorded 50 years ago – and we’re only halfway through summer.

The Reading University Atmospheric Observatory recorded its first 30°C day on Sunday 24 May, when 30.8°C was reached.

Over the next seven weeks this threshold was breached another 14 times, including yesterday when 30.7°C was recorded.

Commenting on the new record, Professor Andrew Charlton–Perez, from the University of Reading, said: ‘For half a century, 1976 was the benchmark every hot summer got measured against.

‘Now 2026 has taken its place. 

‘We’ve recorded 15 days above 30°C so far this year, overtaking the 14 days set in 1976, and there’s still six weeks of summer left to go. That tells you something important.

‘Our climate is shifting, not just having a warm spell. Summers this hot and dry used to be rare, once–in–a–generation events. 

‘Now they will be far more frequent, and that brings real dangers for public health that we cannot afford to ignore.’