Britain experiences hottest year since records began in 1910

Last year was Britain's warmest since records began in 1910, the Met Office weather agency says.

Provisional full year figures put the mean temperature in 2014 at 9.9C, 0.2C higher than the previous record set in 2006.

It is also 1.1C above the long-term average recorded between 1981 and 2010, and means that eight of Britain's top 10 warmest years have happened since 2002.

A new record of 10.93C was set in the Central England Temperature series, which has measured levels in a particular area of central England since 1659.

The Met Office confirmed that 2014, which began with flooding across much of Britain, was also the fourth wettest year since 1910, with 1,297.1 millimetres of rainfall.

Five of Britain's top six wettest years have happened since 2000.

The UN's World Meteorological Organisation said in early December that 2014 was set to be the hottest ever worldwide, confirming the underlying global warming trend.