The UK sea level is rising faster than the global average, presenting a growing threat to British coastal areas, particularly in times of extreme weather events such as storms that often occur in the spring time. In a new report entitled the State of the UK Climate, the Royal Meteorological Society has for the first time reported on the UK’s rising sea levels which – since 1901 – has risen by about 19.5 cm. Two thirds of this rise has occurred in just over the last three decades. The warning has been issued amid the release of this year’s State of UK Climate in which scientists have also confirmed that record-breaking and extreme weather has become increasingly commonplace in the UK, something that is symptomatic – say researchers – of the way in which the UK’s average climate has shifted over the last few decades. The last three years have been in the UK’s top five warmest on record, with 2024 being the fourth warmest year in records dating back to 1884. As in recent years, floods and storms brought the worst severe weather impacts to the UK in 2024. Met Office scientists have warned that the climate is likely to continue to change and we now need to prepare for the impacts this will have on the weather we experience on the ground. When it comes to the rise in UK sea levels, tide gauge records kept since the 1900s provide observational evidence that around the UK, it is accelerating. Looking at 2024 specifically, the most extreme sea levels were associated with Storm Kathleen in early April, which coincided with spring tides and was influenced by high background average sea levels.