Summer 2026 expected to become the UK’s hottest on record

The UK may break its summer temperature record for the second consecutive year, with Met Office figures expected to confirm that the 2025 mark has been surpassed.

The latest possible record follows an unusually large jump in 2025, when the previous high rose by 0.34 degrees Celsius. Before that, the four hottest summers had been separated by only five hundredths of a degree.

All five of the UK’s hottest summers have occurred since 2000. Climate scientists use the term “record-shattering” for records broken by unusually wide margins, and research suggests such jumps become more likely as the climate warms rapidly.

The UK lies on the western edge of Europe, which is warming at roughly twice the global rate. Land heats faster than oceans, parts of Europe extend toward the rapidly warming Arctic, and shifts in weather patterns have brought more frequent and intense summer heatwaves.

The pattern does not mean the UK will set a new summer record every year. Cooler summers will still occur, but records once considered the outer limit of British climate conditions are being overtaken faster. The question is increasingly how often hotter summers will arrive, and how much higher temperatures may climb.