Could this year be the hottest in the history of the UK?
The dry weather has led to drought being currently declared in more than two-thirds of England and all of Wales. Previously, parts of south- and mid-Wales were and are now in drought. People living in affected areas cannot use a hosepipe for most activities, including gardening, filling pools, washing cars etc.
But now the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, says summer 2026 is on course to break the record set just last year. It comes after months of unusually hot and sunny weather, with some parts of the country facing a fifth heatwave this week (According to undefined), summer 2026 is to become the hottest on record, only average conditions are needed for the rest of August, since there have already been several heatwaves in parts of the country this year. A spring heatwave set a record for the month of May. That heatwave was followed another heatwave in June, and a third in July, which lasted for two weeks in places. The highest temperature of the summer so far was 38C, recorded in Norfolk on June 26. Several other longstanding weather records have also been broken. This year is the first on record when 35C or above has been reached in three separate months (May, June and July). With 38C predicted later in the week, August could become the fourth month to reach that mark. It has also been the driest July in both England and Wales since records began in 1836.