Britain is set to record its second sunniest year ever in 2018 since 1929, the Met Office said Friday.

With close to 1,575 hours of sunshine recorded so far, the current year is already sure of beating the 1,566 hours clocked in 1995, the current second sunniest year.

Although it is within range of the record-holding 1,587 hours of sunshine registered in 2003, the final week of December's weather looks unlikely to break that record, say weather experts at the Met Office.

May was this year's sunniest month, and with 246 hours of sunshine it became the sunniest May on record. The high pressure and sunny weather continued through the long days of June and July, contributing significantly to the annual total.

By contrast December has been the dullest month - with only 34 hours of sunshine so far, while it looks unlikely to beat the 49 hours set last January.

The UK mean temperature in 2018 will be somewhere between 9.4 and 9.5 degrees centigrade. The figures for the highest-ranked annual temperatures are so close, the last few days of December will make all the difference between 2018 finishing just inside or just outside the top ten warmest years on record, added the Met Office.

The hottest month of 2018 was July, with an average temperature of 17.3 degrees centigrade, with February coldest at an average 2.4 degrees centigrade.

If 2018 does make it into the top ten, it will mean that every one of the hottest ten years on record will have been in this century.