2026 has had a very cold start, but last year was the second-warmest year on record in Reading, according to more than 100 years of weather data from the University of Reading Atmospheric Observatory.
While UK Met Office figures show that 2025 saw record hot and sunny weather for England and the UK as a whole, figures from Reading – part of a university data set that goes back as far as 1908 – show that Berkshire experienced a remarkably warm, dry, and sunny 12 months.
The annual mean of 11.79 °C (0.9 degrees above 1991-2020 average) was a tiny fraction ahead of 2023’s value, and sufficient to place 2025 as Reading’s second-warmest year in records dating back to 1908, just behind 2022 at 11.87 °C.
All five of Reading’s warmest years have now occurred since and including 2006, four of the five since and including 2020.
The most recent year to appear in the top 5 for cold was more than 60 years ago, in 1963.
Total rainfall at the university in 2025 was 518 mm, which is 21 per cent below the modern 1991-2020 average and Reading’s driest year for 20 years, just outside the top 10 all-time driest.
The turnaround from the preceding two very wet years in 2023 and 2024 is remarkable, as the 12 months ending early March 2024 received 1005 mm, the wettest 12-month period seen in records dating back to 1901.
The year’s total for sunshine was 1,828 hours, 17 per cent above average and ranking third sunniest on records dating from 1956, just behind 1959 (1,918 hours) and 2020 (1,909 hours).
Dr Stephen Burt, visiting researcher at the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, said: “The joy of weather in England is its variability, but the last year has demonstrated just how changeable our weather extremes are becoming.
“In a cold and snowy week in January it’s heartening to report that 2025 was an exceptionally bright and sunny year, with a very welcome one hour per day more sunshine than in 2024.”
Dr Burt’s forthcoming book highlighting the history of weather observations in Reading, entitled Reading Weather and Climate since 1831, will be published by the University of Reading in March 2026, as part of the University’s centenary celebrations.
