Britain has recorded temperatures of 35°C or higher in May, June and July, all in the same year, something that’s never happened before in the UK’s weather record.
The Met Office confirmed this week that Britain has now seen eight days above 34°C in 2026, breaking a record that had stood jointly since 1976 and 2020.
“This year has already seen a number of remarkable temperature milestones,” said the Met Office’s Dr Amy Doherty, adding that this is the first year on record with 35°C-plus heat spread across three separate months.
This is technically the UK’s third heatwave of the year, and each one has had its own character.
Back in May, temperatures hit 35.1°C at Kew Gardens and the country recorded its first “tropical night” of the year, when the mercury never dropped below 20°C even overnight. That spell turned deadly too — at least 15 people died in water-related incidents as people flocked to rivers, lakes and coastlines to cool off.
June brought a longer, muggier stretch that forecasters called one of the UK’s longest heatwaves since 1976.
Now July’s version, fuelled by high pressure sitting over the Azores, has pushed the south and east of England back into the low-to-mid 30s — less humid than June’s spell, but hot enough that the UK Health Security Agency issued amber heat health alerts across London and the south.
2026-07-21 23:21:00
