Britain experienced second-hottest, second-wettest decade in 100 years

The 2010s was the United Kingdom's second-hottest and second-wettest decade in 100 years, according to the Meteorological Office, which is the nation's official weather service and known as the Met Office.

In terms of both temperature and rainfall, the 2010s were surpassed only by the preceding 10 years: the decade running from 2000 to 2009.

Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office's National Climate Information Centre, told the BBC that the relatively high temperatures were "a consequence of our warming climate".

He said it was "notable how many of these extreme records have been set in the most recent decade".

The Times newspaper said the year 2019 was the UK's 11th-warmest recorded since records began 140 years ago. Britain's 10 hottest years have all occurred since 2002.

The Met Office said: "The UK climate is warming, but this does not mean every decade will be significantly warmer than the one preceding it. The cold year of 2010 influences the statistics for this most recent decade for example, but cold years like 2010 occur much less frequently now than in the past."

During 2019, four heat records were broken.

On Feb 26, the 21.2 C recorded at Kew Gardens in West London was the highest winter temperature ever registered in the UK. On July 25, the UK's hottest day saw Cambridge bask in 38.7 C. And on Dec 28, the 18.7 C recorded in Achfary in the Scottish Highlands was a record for a December day. The other heat record to fall in 2019 came on Feb 23, when the temperature did not fall below 13.9 C for a 24-hour period.

The average temperature for last year was 9.42 C.

The Met Office said eight monthly heat records were set during the past decade, including the coldest-recorded month, which fell in March 2018, when the mercury dipped to an average of -4.7 C, in Blaenau Gwent in South Wales.

In addition to being relatively warm, 2019 was also extremely wet, the 11th-wettest on record, with exceptional downfalls drenching the counties of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire during the summer and autumn.

On a global scale, last year was likely the second or third-warmest since recording started in 1850, the Met Office said. The warmest year globally was 2016.

The forecasters expect 2020 to be another warm year globally, likely around the sixth-warmest ever.

McCarthy said he expects the UK's weather to continue to warm in the coming years, with summers getting warmer and winters wetter.

"We would expect these sorts of records subsequently to be broken in the future," he added.