2022 WILL BE the warmest year on record for the UK, the Met Office has said.

The average temperature for the year is on track to beat the previous all-time high of 9.88C set in 2014, provisional data shows.

The exact figure will be confirmed in the new year.

Dr Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, said: “2022 is going to be the warmest year on record for the UK.

“While many will remember the summer’s extreme heat, what has been noteworthy this year has been the relatively consistent heat through the year, with every month except December being warmer than average.

“The warm year is in line with the genuine impacts we expect as a result of human-induced climate change.

“Although it doesn’t mean every year will be the warmest on record, climate change continues to increase the chances of increasingly warm years over the coming decades.”

A sequence of heatwaves starting in June led to the UK experiencing its fourth warmest summer on record, while temperatures broke the 40C mark for the first time, hitting a new record of 40.3C on 19 July at Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

The hot spell in July saw the Met Office issue its first ever red warning for extreme heat.

Wales also recorded a new daily maximum temperature record of 37.1C, while Scotland saw a new record of 34.8C.

There were also record temperatures in Ireland this year, with the hottest daily temperature since 1887 being recorded in July, when 33C was recorded at Phoenix Park in Dublin.

Ireland’s August record for high temperature was also broken, when temperatures of 31.7C were recorded in Oak Park, Co Carlow.