Singapore experienced a year of climate extremes in 2025, with record-breaking heat and rainfall driving up heat stress days, even as overall temperatures placed the year only as the country’s eighth warmest on record, according to a new report by the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS).
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While the annual ranking appeared relatively moderate, MSS said the headline figure masked sharp swings in weather conditions. June and November were the warmest ever recorded for those months, while March saw the heaviest rainfall on record, underscoring growing climate volatility in the city-state.
Singapore recorded 29 days of high heat stress in 2025, up from 21 days in 2024. MSS attributed the increase partly to the expanded deployment of Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) stations, which provide more comprehensive monitoring of heat stress by factoring in temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. The highest 15-minute average WBGT recorded during the year was 35°C at Sentosa Palawan Green on 31 October.
At the Changi climate station, the annual mean temperature in 2025 was 28.1°C, which is 0.3°C above the long-term average and tied with 2010 and 2002 as the joint eighth highest on record. The year’s mean daily maximum temperature of 31.8°C ranked 11th highest, while the mean daily minimum of 25.4°C was the seventh highest on record.
The ten warmest years on record at the Changi climate station since temperature records began in 1929. Image: Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS)
MSS said short-lived La Niña conditions at the start of 2025 helped moderate temperatures, resulting in a relatively cooler first half of the year. Monthly mean temperatures at the Changi climate station were at or below their long-term averages from January to March, during the Northeast monsoon season, and into the first half of the inter-monsoon period in April.
In contrast, 2024 remained Singapore’s warmest year on record, largely driven by the 2023/2024 El Niño event, which saw monthly mean temperatures exceed long-term averages for most of the year, MSS said when contacted.
Despite the cooler start, temperatures rose as the year progressed. June 2025 was the warmest June on record, with a monthly mean temperature of 29.3°C, which was 0.8°C above its long-term average and tied with 1997. July followed closely as the second warmest month of the year and the second warmest July on record, recording a mean temperature of 29.1°C.
Heat intensified again during the inter-monsoon months. October recorded its second-highest monthly mean temperature at 28.9°C, while November set new records, with both its monthly mean temperature (28.2°C) and monthly mean daily maximum temperature (32.8°C) the highest ever recorded for the month.
Extreme weather records based on all available stations in 2025. Image: Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS)
Alongside warmer conditions, 2025 was also the seventh wettest year for Singapore since 1980, driven by exceptional rainfall early in the year. The country’s average annual rainfall reached 2,984.9 mm, about 18 per cent above the long-term average, while the Changi climate station recorded 2,833.5 mm, which was 34 per cent above its long-term average.
The year began with unusually wet conditions. January recorded 430.0 mm of rainfall, nearly double its long-term average, with a Northeast monsoon surge from 10 to 13 January contributing about 76 per cent of the month’s total rainfall.
March 2025 was the wettest March on record, both islandwide and at the Changi climate station. A monsoon surge from 19 to 20 March brought 272.3 mm of rain over two days, exceeding the month’s long-term average. Islandwide rainfall for March reached 482.9 mm, 130 per cent above the average, while Changi recorded 550.1 mm, breaking the previous record.
April followed as the second wettest April since 1980, before conditions turned relatively drier from May to August, with rainfall closer to long-term averages. June was notably dry, recording 28 per cent less rainfall than average.
Wetter conditions returned briefly in September, which saw rainfall 42 per cent above the long-term average, before below-average rainfall generally prevailed for the remainder of the year, MSS said.
