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UK's Hottest Summer on Record in 2026, Met Office Says
Confirmed
Summer 2026 was the UK's hottest on record, according to provisional data from the Met Office. The UK has just experienced its hottest summer on record, caused by human-induced climate change, the national weather bureau has said.
Head of Climate Attribution at the Met Office, Dr Mark McCarthy said that summer 2026 was "remarkable" and we can expect to see extremes occurring more frequently in the future because of climate change. At a more regional level, England, Wales and Northern Ireland also broke their respective mean temperature records for summer, while Scotland reported its joint-sixth warmest summer on record.
“The conditions we’ve seen this summer have broken UK climate records once again,” said Dr Amy Doherty, who leads the National Climate Information Centre at the Met Office. An average temperature of 16.5°C makes the summer of 2026 the warmest in the UK since records began in 1884, the Met Office said in its provisional figures on Tuesday.
"In our current climate, which is changing because of the effect of burning of fossil fuels, we should now expect this to be about a one-in-nine-year event," said Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office.
Climate projections indicate UK summers will continue to become hotter, said Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office. “Summer 2026 would be around average for a UK summer in a world 2.5°C-3°C warmer than the pre-industrial period,” ,” said Dr James Pope.
Their analysis found the record-breaking summer was made around 130 times more likely because of human-induced climate change. The rapid analysis found the estimated return period for a summer like 2026 in a natural climate to be 1,148 years.
What's confirmed
- Head of Climate Attribution at the Met Office, Dr Mark McCarthy said that summer 2026 was "remarkable" and we can expect to see extremes occurring more frequently in the future because of climate change.
- "In our current climate, which is changing because of the effect of burning of fossil fuels, we should now expect this to be about a one-in-nine-year event," said Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the…
- Climate projections indicate UK summers will continue to become hotter, said Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office.
What's still developing
- Summer 2026 was the UK's hottest on record, according to provisional data from the Met Office.
- At a more regional level, England, Wales and Northern Ireland also broke their respective mean temperature records for summer, while Scotland reported its joint-sixth warmest summer on record.
- The UK has just experienced its hottest summer on record, caused by human-induced climate change, the national weather bureau has said.
- An average temperature of 16.5°C makes the summer of 2026 the warmest in the UK since records began in 1884, the Met Office said in its provisional figures on Tuesday.
- “The conditions we’ve seen this summer have broken UK climate records once again,” said Dr Amy Doherty, who leads the National Climate Information Centre at the Met Office.
- Their analysis found the record-breaking summer was made around 130 times more likely because of human-induced climate change.
- The rapid analysis found the estimated return period for a summer like 2026 in a natural climate to be 1,148 years.
- “Summer 2026 would be around average for a UK summer in a world 2.5°C-3°C warmer than the pre-industrial period,” ,” said Dr James Pope.