UK Swings from Record Heat to Autumn Deluge
Meteorological summer's unprecedented temperatures give way to flood alerts and persistent drought conditions across England and Wales.
Sarah Connor
The UK's meteorological summer concluded with record-breaking heat, immediately followed by severe wet and windy conditions.
May's initial heatwave obliterated that month's temperature record by over 2C. Ten days recorded temperatures of 35C or higher, shattering the previous record of five days.
Kew Gardens hit 38.1C on August 13. Teddington, south-west London, saw a high of 25.6C on the final day of August 2026.
Up to 2.8 million people faced temporary hosepipe bans during the heatwave. July 2026 was reportedly the driest in 190 years.
Most of England and all of Wales remain locked in drought. Reservoir storage in England reportedly stands at 60%, 18 percentage points below the average for this time of year.
The Government announced a £65 million package to support farmers.
Fire and rescue services across England and Wales battled 1,132 wildfires by August 16. This tally already surpassed the total for all of 2025.
Nineteen homes in Stourbridge were fully destroyed after multiple fires spread across the West Midlands. Fifteen youngsters and five adults reportedly died in drownings during the heatwave.
Water safety education will become compulsory in Relationships and Sex and Health Education (RSHE) lessons starting this September.
The death toll for this summer is expected to shatter records, surpassing the 2,985 fatalities recorded in the summer of 2022.
Dr Mark McCarthy stated, "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."
Meanwhile, the Met Office unveiled the official list of storm names for the 2026-27 season, including Austen, Boelo, and Chloe. These names were chosen from over 40,000 public suggestions.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5C above the long-term average. This natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3C in the coming months.
The national weather service began recording temperature data for the UK in 1884.