UK heatwave to end as cooler, unsettled weather moves in Sunday

Cooler Atlantic air is set to move in from the west on Sunday, ending the UK’s record-breaking heat spell with cloud, showers and temperatures nearer average. The change will bring a milder start to the meteorological summer, with showery rain edging east through the day and fresher conditions carrying into early next week.

The shift follows an extraordinary burst of heat that pushed the country into record territory on successive days. Gosport, Hampshire, reached a provisional 36.1C on 24 June, setting a new June daily maximum temperature record, before Santon Downham, Suffolk, climbed to 37.3C on 26 June and set another June mark. Friday was the third consecutive day a new June heat record had been established, a run that has stretched pressure on public services and travel networks across England, Wales and the Midlands.

This was the first time in the history of the current warning system that red warnings for extreme heat had been issued for three consecutive days in the UK. In Sheffield and South Yorkshire, amber heat warnings had already coincided with early school closures and warnings against non-essential journeys.

Sunday’s cooler spell should ease some of that strain, but it will not bring a clean break from weather-related risk. Showers moving east could leave roads slick, while unsettled conditions early next week may keep travel planning uncertain and shift concerns from heat stress to rain, cloud and changing visibility. For hospitals, care homes and other health services that have been under heat-related pressure, the drop back toward average temperatures should offer some relief, even if the unsettled pattern prevents a full return to calm.

The latest swing in conditions comes after a spring that had already been rewritten by heat. Kew Gardens, Greater London, reached 35.1C on 25 May, setting a new UK May temperature record, and May 2026 was a month of two halves, with the first half unsettled and the second half record-breaking hot. The Met Office counted 23 stations that broke the previous UK May maximum temperature record of 32.8C, set in 1922 and matched in 1944.