UK Weather: Britain enjoys New Year's scorcher with highest ever recorded temperature

Britain has marked its hottest New Year’s Eve on record with temperatures already reaching 14.9 degrees, the Met Office has confirmed.

The previous record of 14.8 degrees in Colwyn Bay, Wales in 2011 was toppled at 11am on Friday in Ryehill, East Yorkshire.

Temperatures are set to rise further across the country later in the day before dropping slightly at night as the UK ushers in 2022.

Areas of southern and eastern England including the West Country, London and Lincolnshire, are expected to see the mildest weather.

Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon said the first reading had been taken at 11am.

“Our station at Ryehill, a small village in East Yorkshire has recorded 14.9 degrees today, which tops the previous record of 14.8. It has provisionally broken the New Year’s Eve record,” he said.

“We would expect that to climb further and reach temperatures we saw yesterday of around 15.5 degrees.”