UK heatwave breaks records as temperatures top 35C repeatedly

The UK recorded 35C or higher in May, June and July for the first time in its weather record, while 2026 also reached a record eight days above 34C. That run came as temperatures kept pushing through the 30s under a spell of hot, dry and exceptionally sunny weather that left little relief between one heat peak and the next.

The Met Office said the heatwave was being driven by persistent high pressure over the UK, a pattern that suppresses cloud, encourages sinking air and allows sunshine and light winds to linger for days at a time. On 6 July, forecasters said southern parts of the country would climb to 32C on Monday and Tuesday, then 33C on Wednesday and 34C on Thursday, with isolated places reaching 35C on Friday and Saturday. By 8 July, the forecast had tightened further, with some parts of England expected to reach 35C or 36C as the UK Health Security Agency issued amber and yellow heat-health alerts.

The public-health pressure was not abstract. The alerts signaled significant impacts across health and social care services, with the heaviest strain likely to fall on services already dealing with repeated heat episodes this summer. The Met Office said the run of hot weather was the third heatwave of 2026, making the latest spell part of a sustained season rather than a one-off burst of high temperatures.

What made this heatwave stand out was not only the heat, but the abnormal dryness and sunshine. BBC-linked reporting said Yeovilton in Somerset and Odiham in Hampshire each recorded about 152 hours of sunshine in the first 13 days of July, almost twice the normal amount for that point in the month. The same reporting said some parts of England had recorded 0% of the rainfall they would normally expect so far in July, while Wisley in Surrey went 27 consecutive days without rain.

The Met Office said some larger urban areas could stay in the high teens overnight, with tropical nights possible in a few places, limiting how much the body can recover after daytime heat. It also said this spell was less humid than the June heatwave and not expected to be record-breaking, but temperatures were still widely above 30C across England and Wales, with some locations in England likely to reach 35C or 36C again.

The historic station records used by the Met Office, including long-running data from Yeovilton and Sheffield, show how unusual the combination has become: repeated 35C days, record-breaking 34C totals and a month in which sunshine and drought have arrived together.