LONDON

2022 will be the warmest year on record for the UK, the country’s meteorological service said on Wednesday.

Provisional data indicates the average annual temperature will exceed the previous all-time high of 9.88 degrees Celsius (49.78 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in 2014, according to the Met Office.

“All four seasons have fallen in the top ten in a series which began in 1884 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 2003,” read a Met Office report.

It said 2022 is highly likely to set a new 139-year annual mean temperature record.

“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,” said Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Center.

“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.”

Final figures will be available at the end of the year, the Met Office said.