Britain Endures Record-Breaking Summer as Heatwaves Persist

LONDON — Britain’s consecutive heatwaves delivered the hottest summer on record, the national weather service reported Tuesday.

The season, characterized by extreme heat, scant rainfall, devastating wildfires, and water restrictions, surpassed the record set just a year prior, the Met Office said, citing provisional data dating back to 1884.

The mean temperature of 16.5 °C (61.7 °F) eclipsed the 16.1 °C (61 °F) recorded in 2025. The previous year’s record had broken the 15.7 °C (60.2 °F) benchmark set in 2018.

“These records are now falling with increasing frequency, underscoring the impact of human‑induced climate change,” said Amy Doherty, head of the National Climate Information Centre. “It is particularly striking how much we have surpassed the previous summer average temperature record, set only last year.”

The five warmest summers on record have all taken place since 2003.

The Met Office calculated that human‑induced climate change made such a hot summer roughly 130 times more likely. In the absence of human greenhouse‑gas emissions, a summer of that intensity would occur about once every thousand years, but it is now anticipated roughly once every nine years.

“Our hottest summer on record is a stark reminder that climate change is not a distant threat in Britain; it is already here,” said Minister for Climate Transition Katie White. “With children unable to sleep because of the heat, families concerned about elderly relatives, farmers seeing their fields wither, and firefighters and armed forces battling wildfires, we are confronting a reality none of us wishes for the people and places we cherish.”

Heatwaves began in late May and recurred throughout the summer, including two in July.

The UK Health Security Agency estimated that 2,877 deaths in England were linked to the heatwaves in May and June.

A peak temperature of 38 °C (100.4 °F) recorded in Norfolk on 26 June set a new monthly record. The thermometer rose to 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) in London on 13 August, the hottest day of the year.

England, Wales, and Northern Ireland all posted record‑high mean summer temperatures, while Scotland, which experienced cooler and less dry conditions, tied its sixth‑warmest summer.

All of Wales and most of England remain under drought conditions.

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