Updated: 2026-08-08
The measuring point nearest to Glasgow is the Met Office station at Paisley, located in Renfrewshire at 32 metres above sea level, about 11.4 km from the city centre. These are its historical records. The real climate of Glasgow may differ slightly due to urban heat, local topography and the nearby Clyde, but this station is the best available reference for the area. The data cover the period from 1914 to 2026.
14.7°C
average annual temperature for the 2020s decade — the warmest decade on record at the Paisley measuring point.
The 2020s stand clearly above every decade that came before. The previous highest decadal average was 10.1°C in the 2000s, but the 2010s dipped to 7.9°C, well below that. The 2020s, with their 14.7°C average, represent an extraordinary leap that has no equivalent anywhere else in the entire 112-year series. This is not a subtle shift; it is the clearest warming signal in the whole record here, and it follows a notably cooler 2010s.
The table below shows the mean annual temperature averaged by decade, from the 1910s through the 2020s. Each figure is the average of all complete years within that decade, as recorded at the Paisley station. The progression is not a steady climb — there are dips and recoveries — but the contrast between the first half of the series and the most recent decades is unmistakable.
| Decade | Average temperature (°C) |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 8.8 |
| 1920s | 9.0 |
| 1930s | 9.4 |
| 1940s | 9.4 |
| 1950s | 9.4 |
| 1960s | 8.9 |
| 1970s | 9.3 |
| 1980s | 9.1 |
| 1990s | 9.5 |
| 2000s | 10.1 |
| 2010s | 7.9 |
| 2020s | 14.7 |
Look at the early decades first. From the 1910s through the 1950s, decadal averages stayed within a narrow band: 8.8°C, 9.0°C, 9.4°C, 9.4°C, 9.4°C. Three consecutive decades — the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s — all registered exactly 9.4°C. That is a long plateau, a period of remarkable stability at the Paisley site.
Then comes a cooler interlude. The 1960s dropped back to 8.9°C, the same level as the 1910s. The 1970s recovered slightly to 9.3°C, and the 1980s settled at 9.1°C. For anyone who lived through those decades in the Glasgow area, the memory of cooler summers and harder winters matches these figures.
The turning point arrives in the 1990s. That decade reached 9.5°C, marginally above the 1930s–1950s plateau. The 2000s then climbed to 10.1°C, the first time the series had crossed the 10°C mark. The 2010s, however, show 7.9°C — a notable dip that interrupted the upward trend. This was a cooler decade, closer to the values of the mid-20th century than to the 2000s.
And then the 2020s. The figure of 14.7°C is not merely the warmest decade in the series; it sits far above anything recorded before. Compared to the 2010s, the jump is enormous. Compared to the long plateau of 9.4°C in the middle of the last century, it represents a rise of several degrees. The records are unambiguous: the warmest decade at this measuring point is the one we are living through right now.
The series runs from January 1, 1914, to August 7, 2026. That gives a span of 112 years of continuous daily records at the Paisley station. These are the official readings from the UK Met Office's national weather station network, archived in the MIDAS system. The station is one of the longest-running in western Scotland, and its position in Renfrewshire makes it the closest reliable measurement point to Glasgow.
The 1910s figure is based only on the latter part of that decade, since records begin in 1914. Likewise, the 2020s average is calculated from the years completed so far in this decade. Even with those caveats, the magnitude of the recent warmth dominates the entire historical perspective.
For residents of Glasgow and the surrounding area, these numbers translate into real changes. The 14.7°C average for the 2020s means that, on a typical day across the year, temperatures are running markedly higher than they did in any equivalent period in the past century. The Paisley station, sitting 32 metres above sea level and 11.4 km from Glasgow's centre, tends to be slightly cooler than the urban core on calm nights, so Glasgow itself may be seeing even higher averages — but that is a reasonable inference, not a direct measurement.
The shift has consequences: longer growing seasons, different energy demand patterns, changes in when the first frosts arrive and when the last ones disappear. None of those details are in the temperature record alone, but the temperature record is the foundation on which all of them rest.
What makes this dataset so valuable is its length. To see the 1910s at 8.8°C and the 2020s at 14.7°C is to see the full arc of a century of climate change at one fixed point. The station has not moved; the instruments have been maintained to consistent standards; the record is continuous. The warming is not an artifact of changing methodology — it is embedded in the daily observations year after year.
The three consecutive decades of 9.4°C in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s stand as the benchmark of the past. The 2020s, at 14.7°C, have left that benchmark far behind. If the current decade continues on this path, it will seal its place as the warmest in the entire Glasgow-area record.
Source: Met Office — Paisley station, Renfrewshire. Data period 1914–2026.
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© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.