This summer was UK's warmest since records began

This summer was the warmest in the UK since records began in 1884, according to provisional figures from the country's Met Office.

The average temperature across June, July and August was 16.5C, beating the previous high of 16.1C set only last year.

It means the top six warmest summers on record have all occurred this century, including three this decade: 2026 in first place, followed by 2025, 2018, 2006, 2003 and 2022.

A summer such as the one experienced this year is around 130 times more likely because of climate change and is now a "one in nine-year event", the Met Office said.

The figures reflect the impact of a "remarkable" summer of extreme heat and very little rainfall, that led to devastating wildfires, water restrictions for millions and many areas being declared in drought.

Parts of the country have seen as many as five heatwaves in recent months, with the first in late May, followed by one in late June, two in July and one in mid-August.

The June heatwave prompted a rare red alert from the Met Office for extreme heat and saw temperatures peak at 38C on 26 in Lingwood, Norfolk – a new record for the month.

An estimated 2,877 deaths in England were associated with the heatwaves in May and June, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

As the scorching summer continued, England saw its driest July since data began, with only 7mm of rain measured, or 10% of the long-term average.

The most recent heatwave, in mid-August, saw temperatures climb as high as 38.1C in Kew Gardens on 13 August, making it the hottest day of the year.

It meant 2026 became the first year to see three separate days where temperatures exceeded 37C.

The UK's Met Office Head of Climate Attribution, Dr Mark McCarthy, said: "The summer of 2026 has been remarkable and is an example of the extremes we can expect to see more frequently as a consequence of human induced climate change.

"In a climate unaffected by human emissions of greenhouse gases, a summer like this would be exceptionally unlikely – one in over 1,000 years."

The punishing heat and lack of rainfall meant wildfires were common across the UK.

A blaze in the Cairngorms mountain range in Scotland that started in mid-July burned for more than a month across 25 square kilometres of moorland and forestry, while a fire on hills above Blaenavon in south Wales started in late July and continued for several weeks.

More recently, 19 homes in Stourbridge were destroyed by wildfires in mid-August.

Fire and rescue services in England and Wales had responded to 1,132 wildfires so far this year as of 16 August, surpassing the 1,017 total for the whole of last year, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council.

Elsewhere, the Met Office weather station at Wisley in Surrey recorded 62 consecutive days with no rain, while those at Heathrow Airport in London and Odiham in Hampshire clocked up dry spells that lasted 56 days.

Responding to the provisional figures, Minister for Climate Transition Katie White said: "Our hottest summer ever is a brutal reminder that we're not waiting for climate change to arrive in Britain, we’re living in the middle of it.

The persistent dry weather and extreme heat of the past few months continue to have an impact on the UK, despite recent rainfall.

Most of England and all of Wales remain officially in drought, the exceptions being the North East, North West and Yorkshire.

Bristol Water last week became the latest company to announce a hosepipe ban, meaning around 30 million people in England now have restrictions on their use of water.

Reservoir storage in England currently stands at 60%, 18 percentage points below the average for this time of year, with nine reservoirs classed by the Environment Agency as having exceptionally low levels.

These include Wimbleball and Clatworthy reservoirs in Somerset, where storage is currently 37% and 40% respectively, Ardingley in West Sussex (44%) and Hanningfield in Essex (49%).

No droughts have been declared in Scotland or Northern Ireland, though two areas in south-west Scotland have "significant scarcity" of water, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The National Drought Group continues to meet weekly to coordinate action and monitor risks across the country.

Earlier this month, the Government announced a £65 million (€75m) package to support farmers, who have reported their earliest harvest in 20 years, with yields impacted by the intense heat stress and dry weather.

Summer 2026 was the hottest on record in Belgium, the country's weather agency said, making it the latest European nation to smash temperature records this year.

Temperatures in the official national reference station in Uccle, outside Brussels, averaged 20.3 C - 2.4 C above the mean of recent decades - the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) said.

"This represents an all-time record (based on observations dating back to 1833) and marks the first time this average has exceeded 20C," the RMI said.

"It is a significant increase compared to the previous record" of 19.9 C registered in 2018, it added.

More accustomed to mild and wet weather, Belgium has experienced several heatwaves since June and was hit by its largest wildfire in a century in August.