A series of heatwaves leads Britain to record its hottest summer

Britain has experienced its hottest summer on record due to a series of scorching heatwaves, according to the national weather service. This summer witnessed extreme heat, scarce rainfall, devastating wildfires, and water restrictions, surpassing the previous record set just a year prior. The mean average temperature of 16.5 degrees Celsius (61.7 Fahrenheit) exceeded the previous record of 16.1 C (61 F) from 2025.

The Met Office noted that these extreme weather patterns are becoming more frequent, reflecting the impact of human-induced climate change. Specifically, human activities have made such a hot summer 130 times more likely to occur. Without greenhouse gas emissions, a summer of this intensity would happen once every thousand years, but is now anticipated to happen once every nine years.

Minister of Climate Transition Katie White emphasized the severity of the situation, stating that the heatwaves have left families and farmers struggling, firefighters and armed forces battling wildfires, and people across the U.K. waking up to an unbearable reality. Between May and June, the U.K. Health Security Agency estimated that 2,877 deaths in England were linked to the extreme heatwaves.

Temperatures peaked at 38 C (100.4 F) in Norfolk in June and reached 38.1 C (100.6 F) in London in August, setting new monthly records. While Scotland saw cooler and less dry conditions, it still experienced its sixth warmest summer overall. Currently, all of Wales and most of England remain under drought conditions.