The Central England Temperature (CET) record is a meteorological dataset originally published by Professor Gordon Manley in 1953 and subsequently extended and updated in 1974, following many decades of work. The monthly mean surface air temperatures, for the Midlands region of England, are given (in degrees Celsius) from the year 1659 to the present.

This record represents the longest series of monthly temperature observations in existence. It is a valuable dataset for meteorologists and climate scientists. It is monthly from 1659, and a daily version has been produced from 1772. The monthly means from November 1722 onwards are given to a precision of 0.1 °C. The earliest years of the series, from 1659 to October 1722 inclusive, for the most part only have monthly means given to the nearest degree or half a degree, though there is a small 'window' of 0.1 degree precision from 1699 to 1706 inclusive. This reflects the number, accuracy, reliability and geographical spread of the temperature records that were available for the years in question.

The Central England temperature series is a composite series drawing upon multiple temperature series collected in central England, with 30 different sites used in the daily version. Each of the early time series that are used in forming the Central England composite may cover only a limited timespan, and these are spliced together to form the complete record. When multiple simultaneous observations exist, a weighted average of different time series may be used to determine the composite monthly average.

Data quality Although best efforts have been made by Manley and subsequent researchers to quality control the series, there are data problems in the early years, with some non-instrumental data used. According to Parker et al. (1992), up to 1814 Manley's data

These problems account for the lower precision to which the early monthly means were quoted by Manley. Parker et al. (1992)Parker, D. E., T. P. Legg, and C. K. Folland, 1992: A new daily Central England Temperature Series, 1772-1991. Int J Climatol, 12, 317-342. addressed this by not using data prior to 1772, since their daily series required more accurate data than did the original series of monthly means. Before 1722, instrumental records do not overlap and Manley used a non-instrumental series from Utrecht compiled by Labrijn (1945), to make the monthly central England temperature (CET) series complete.

For a period early in the 21st century there were two versions of the series: the "official" version maintained by the Hadley Centre in Exeter, and a version that was maintained by the late Philip Eden which he argued was more consistent with the series as originally compiled by Manley.

The warmest year on record was recorded in 2025, with an average temperature of 11.23 degrees Celsius. This beat the previous 2022 record by 0.08 degrees and was almost 2 degrees over the 1961-1990 average.

Trends revealed by the series

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a cool period which coincided with cool winters and generally cool summers, the temperatures fluctuated widely but with little trend. From 1910, temperatures increased until about 1950, when they flattened before a sharp rising trend began in about 1975. The warmest decade on record is the 2010s (2011–2020) with a mean temperature of .

Both the general warming trend and the hottest year on record at the time, 2014, have been attributed to human-caused climate change using observational and climate model-based techniques. This record was subsequently broken in 2022, when a mean CET of was recorded, above the 1961-90 average and breaking the 2014 record by nearly , and again in 2025, when a mean CET of was recorded, breaking the 2022 record by .

Extremes Taking the 364-year period for the series as a whole:

Hottest PeriodRecord MeanYearYear2025 Spring (March–May)2026 Summer (June–August)2026 Autumn (September–November)2006 Winter (December–February) 2015/2016 January 1916 February 1779 March 1957 April 2011 May 1833 June 1846 July 2006 August 1995 September 2023 October 2001 November 1994 December 2015

Coldest PeriodRecord MeanYearYear 1740 Spring (March–May) 1837 Summer (June–August) 1725 Autumn (September–November) 1676, 1740, 1786 Winter (December–February) 1683/1684 January 1795 February1947 March 1674 April 1701 and 1837 May 1698 June 1675 July 1816 August 1912 September 1674, 1675, 1694 and 1807 October 1740 November 1782 December 1890

Mean, maximum and minimum temperatures Since 1878, the Central England temperature has recorded daily maximum and minimum temperatures; its daily mean records began in 1772. The tables below show the record average max/min for each season and each calendar month since 1878.

Highest minimum PeriodRecord MeanYearYear 2024 Spring (March–May) 2024 Summer (June–August) 2026 Autumn (September–November) 2006 Winter (December–February) 2006/07 January 1921 February 2024 March 1957 April 2011 May 2024 June 2026 July 2006 August 1997 September 2006 October 2001 November 1994 December 2015

Lowest minimum PeriodRecord MeanYearYear 1879 Spring (March–May) 1887 Summer (June–August) 1922 Autumn (September–November) 1919 Winter (December–February) 1962/63 January 1963 February 1895 March 1883 April 2021 May 1885 June 1916 July 1919 August 1885 September 1986 October 1919 November 1915 December 2010

Highest maximum PeriodRecord MeanYearYear 2022 Spring (March–May) 2025 Summer (June–August) 2026 Autumn (September–November) 2006 Winter (December–February) 2015/16 January 1916 February 2019 March 1938 April 2011 May 1992 June 2023 July 2006, 2026 August 1995 September 2023 October 1921 November 2011 December 2015

Lowest maximum PeriodRecord MeanYearYear 1879 Spring (March–May) 1879 Summer (June–August) 1879 Autumn (September–November) 1887, 1896, 1952 Winter (December–February) 1962/63 January 1963 February 1947 March 2013 April 1879 May 1902 June 1909, 1972 July 1879 August 1912 September 1952 October 1896 November 1919 December 1890

Daily records Daily mean temperatures have been available since 1772, with max and min data available from 1878 onward.

Highest mean PeriodRecord MeanDate January 1 January 2022 February 15 February 2024 March 30 March 2017 April 29 April 1775 May 26 May 2026 June 26 June 2026 July 19 July 2022 August 13 August 2026 September 7 September 2023 October 1 October 1985 November 5 November 1938 December 19 December 2015

Highest minimum PeriodRecordDate January 1 January 2022 February 15 February 2024 March 30 March 1998 April 24 April 2007 May 26 May 2026 June 26 June 2026 July 20 July 2016 August 11 August 1997 September 5 September 1949 October 3 October 2011 November 22 November 1947 December 31 December 2021

Highest maximum PeriodRecord MaximumDate January 1 January 2022 February 26 February 2019 March 29 March 1965 April 16 April 2003 May 26 May 2026 June 26 June 2026 July 19 July 2022 August 13 August 2026 September 1 September 1906 October 1 October 2011 November 4 November 1946 December 19 December 2015

Lowest mean PeriodRecord MeanDate January 20 January 1838 February 9 February 1816 March 13 March 1845 April 3 April 1799 May 8 May 1861 June 9 June 1816 July 20 July 1836 August 26 August 1864 September 28 September 1824 October 29 October 1895 November 24 November 1904 December 25 December 1796

Lowest minimum PeriodRecord MinimumDate January 21 January 1940 February 24 February 1947 March 5 March 1909, 7 March 1947 April 2 April 1917 May 4 May 1941 June 5 June 1991 July 4 July 1965 August 31 August 1921 September 29 September 1919 October 27 October 1931 November 24 November 1904 December 13 December 1981

Lowest maximum PeriodRecordDate January 12 January 1987 February 6 February 1895 March 1 March 2018 April 5 April 1911 May 3 May 1892 June 8 June 1897 July 5 July 1920 August 16 August 1888 September 29 September 1918 October 31 October 1934 November 28 November 2010 December 29 December 1908

See also Climate of the United Kingdom England and Wales Precipitation

Notes

References

Further reading G. Manley, "Central England temperatures: monthly means 1659 to 1973.", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol. 100, pp. 389–405 (1974). D.E. Parker, T.P. Legg and C. Folland, "A new daily Central England Temperature series 1772–1991," Int. J. Climatol., vol. 12, pp. 317–342 (1992). Graphs of the series at the University of East Anglia Freely downloadable text file containing the data. Met Office Hadley Centre CET pages