UK Council Climate Risk
Plymouth has a coastal city setting with steep river valleys, estuaries and rising ground inland and experiences cool, wet winters and mild summers, shaped by maritime influence and complex topography. Flood risk is most relevant along the Tamar and Plym estuaries and the tidal creeks around Plymouth Sound, where prolonged rainfall and high tides affect low-lying areas.
Plymouth has moderate flood exposure across its postcodes. 10.1% of postcodes contain at least one property in the high flood-risk band, based on Environment Agency NaFRA2 flood-risk modelling. The postcode band reflects the highest flood risk within that postcode - within any given high-band postcode, some individual properties may face little or no direct flood risk. Flood risk varies significantly between streets - two houses on the same road can carry different risk bands depending on their proximity to watercourses, drainage infrastructure, and elevation. The postcode checker on this page shows the band for each postcode area in Plymouth.
Plymouth has recorded flooding in 28 separate years since 1900, including 16 since 2000, most recently in 2025. Recorded years: 2025, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, and 18 earlier back to 1900. Recorded extent shows past flooding, not current risk at any specific address - check a postcode above for a live rating. Records are not complete; absence of a listed year does not mean an area has never flooded. Source: Environment Agency Recorded Flood Outlines.
Heat risk in Plymouth is relatively low under current climate projections. Met Office UKCP18 data (50th percentile) suggests the area could see around 13 days above 25°C per year, averaged over the 2021-2040 period under the RCP8.5 high emissions scenario. These are probabilistic projections - the 50th percentile is the central estimate within RCP8.5; the full range of modelled outcomes is wide and lower emissions scenarios would produce lower figures. Higher summer temperatures affect comfort in properties without adequate ventilation, increase cooling energy costs, and can accelerate shrinkage in clay soils beneath foundations - making heat and subsidence risks linked for older housing stock built on clay-rich ground.
Air quality in Plymouth averages 5.5 µg/m³ for fine particulate matter (Defra UK-AIR PM2.5), which is relatively low by UK standards. PM2.5 comes primarily from road traffic, industry, and domestic burning. Exposure varies across the council area - postcodes near busy arterial roads or industrial zones typically record higher readings than suburban or rural addresses. Defra UK-AIR monitoring data underpins LocalRisk's air quality screening.
0.0% of postcodes in Plymouth sit on shrink-swell clay soils according to British Geological Survey (BGS) GeoClimate data. These soils expand when wet and contract during dry summers, placing stress on foundations - particularly in properties built before cavity wall standards were tightened. High subsidence risk areas often see raised buildings insurance premiums and may require specialist structural surveys before purchase or remortgage.
Plymouth covers neighbourhoods including Devonport, Mutley, St Budeaux, Plymstock, Stoke, Mannamead, Compton, Stonehouse, and Crownhill. LocalRisk holds flood, heat, air-quality, and subsidence data at the postcode level across every one of these areas - useful when comparing two streets in the same borough or town.
LocalRisk draws on official UK open data sources for every postcode report: Environment Agency NaFRA2 (flood risk), Met Office UKCP18 (heat projections, 50th percentile, 2021-2040 average under RCP8.5), Defra UK-AIR (air quality PM2.5), and British Geological Survey GeoClimate (subsidence). Data is presented at postcode level so buyers, renters, landlords, and conveyancers can check what applies to a postcode area before making property decisions.
Tropical nights - nights when the temperature never falls below 20°C - remain rare in Plymouth today, at fewer than one a year in recent decades. Met Office UKCP18 projections put the figure at around 1 a year at 2°C of global warming and around 7 at 4°C. These are central estimates from a wide probabilistic range; totals would be lower under lower emissions (Met Office UKCP18, 12 km grid).
Data checked July 2026. Sources: Environment Agency NaFRA2 (flood), Met Office UKCP18 (heat), Defra UK-AIR (air quality), British Geological Survey (ground).