UK records hottest summer on record, Met Office says

The UK recorded its hottest summer on record in 2026, the country’s national weather service announced on Tuesday, marking its second record-breaking summer in a row.

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“An average mean temperature of 16.5°C puts this summer as provisionally the warmest on record, as well as the warmest season for the UK in a series which goes back to 1884,” the Met Office said.

That beats the previous record of 16.1°C , set in 2025, and put the year comfortably above the next three hottest summers – 2018, 2006, and 2003 – which all saw an average mean temperature of 15.7°C over the season.

England, Wales, and Northern Ireland also recorded their warmest summers on record, while Scotland reported its joint-sixth warmest summer. England also saw its warmest June on record as well as its driest July, recording just 6.5mm of rainfall for the month.

The UK, like much of Europe, has experienced a series of scorching heatwaves and drought conditions over the last few months, with temperatures peaking at 38.1°C in London’s Kew Gardens on 13 August.

“These records are now breaking with increasing frequency, reflecting the influence of human-induced climate change on the temperatures we’re experiencing in the UK,” Dr Amy Doherty, who leads the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, said.

“Particularly notable is how much we’ve exceeded the previous summer mean temperature record, set just last year,” Doherty added.

According to a study carried out by Met Office scientists, the record-breaking season was made roughly 130 times more likely due to “human-induced climate change.”

“In a climate unaffected by human emissions of greenhouse gases, a summer like this would be exceptionally unlikely, i.e. 1 in over 1,000 years,” Dr Mark McCarthy, the head of climate attribution at the Met Office, said. “In our current climate, which is changing because of the effect of burning of fossil fuels, we should now expect this to be roughly a 1 in 9 year event”.

Sweltering conditions across Europe have wreaked havoc on the continent this summer, putting increasing strain on emergency services and helping fuel a series of devastating wildfires.