The UK has recorded its warmest spring on record and its driest in more than 50 years, according to provisional Met Office figures.
Provisional figures showed this spring’s average temperature of 9.5C was above the long-term climatological average by 1.4C.
It comes after the forecaster warned the UK could be hit by heatwaves and it was twice as likely the country would experience a hot summer.
“The data clearly shows that recent decades have been warmer, sunnier, and often drier than the 20th century average,” Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said.
“This spring shows some of the changes we’re seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions, including prolonged dry, sunny weather.”
Eight of the 10 warmest UK springs have occurred since the year 2000, and the three warmest springs have all occurred since 2017, the agency said.
Temperatures in the UK provisionally averaged 9.51C across March, April and May, just above the previous spring record of 9.37C, which was set only last year.
The next warmest springs were in 2011 (9.12C), 2014 (9.02C) and 2007 (9.02C). Met Office temperature data begins in 1884.
Meanwhile, the Met Office’s three-month outlook shows it is 2.3 times more likely than normal that the UK will be hot over meteorological summer, which begins on 1 June and ends on 31 August.
The average temperatures across the UK over those months range from 10-17C, with the south east of England experiencing the higher averages of 16-17C.
The Met Office said: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
Data shows it has been a decade since the last time a summer was predicted to be cool, in 2015. The latest outlook also shows the levels of rainfall and wind speed for the next three months will likely be near average.
