The UK has officially experienced its hottest summer since national records began more than 140 years ago, according to provisional figures released by the Met Office today.
The average mean temperature across June, July and August 2026 reached 16.5C, beating the previous record of 16.1C set only last summer.
The Met Office’s national temperature series stretches back to 1884, making summer 2026 the warmest recorded in the entire dataset.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland each broke their respective summer mean temperature records.
Scotland experienced its joint-sixth warmest summer on record.
The five warmest UK summers have now all occurred since 2003.
After 2026 and 2025, the next warmest summers were 2018, 2006 and 2003, all with mean temperatures around 15.7C.
The famously hot summer of 1976 now ranks seventh when measured by overall mean summer temperature.
However, when only average daytime maximum temperatures are considered, summer 2026 also broke the previous record held by 1976.
The season included several prolonged periods of extreme heat.
The UK’s highest temperature of the summer was 38.1C, recorded at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August.
A temperature of 38.0C was also recorded at Lingwood in Norfolk during June, setting a new UK daily temperature record for that month.
Across the country, 54 Met Office weather stations broke their own all-time daily maximum temperature records during the summer.
The warmth followed the UK’s second warmest June and second warmest July on record, with consistently high temperatures throughout the season ultimately pushing the summer average above every previous year.
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The summer was not only unusually hot but also exceptionally dry across many parts of the country.
Late-August rainfall prevented some locations from setting seasonal rainfall records, but drought conditions affected large areas during the summer.
The prolonged warmth also contributed to wildfires, stressed water supplies and exceptionally dry ground across parts of the UK.
The Met Office said human-induced climate change had substantially increased the likelihood of experiencing a summer as warm as 2026.
Its analysis estimates that the seasonal temperature recorded this year was around 130 times more likely because of human-caused climate change.
Without human influence on the climate, the Met Office estimates a summer reaching this temperature would occur roughly once every 1,000 years.
Under the current climate, the same level of summer warmth is estimated to occur approximately once every nine years.
Dr Amy Doherty, who leads the National Climate Information Centre at the Met Office, said UK climate records were now being broken with increasing frequency.
The provisional figures will undergo the Met Office’s usual quality-control process before becoming final, but substantial changes to the overall ranking are not expected.
The new record means the UK has now experienced its two warmest summers in consecutive years, with 2025’s record lasting only 12 months before being surpassed.
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Sources
Met Office – Summer 2026 Provisionally Hottest on Record for the UK
