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The UK has experienced record-breaking temperatures this summer, with three consecutive heatwaves and a severe dry spell turning the nation’s green landscape brown and dry.
Last month was England’s hottest June on record, the Met Office has confirmed, hitting 37.7C in Lingwood, Norfolk on the 26th. This surpassed the 35.6C set in 1957 and equalled the 1976 record.
Sweltering temperatures have continued into July, with 2026 marking the first time that temperatures have reached 35C in May, June and July in the same year.
Many parts of England are now at risk of drought due to prolonged hot and dry conditions, with land and rivers drying up across southern and eastern England.
Satellite images reveal the impact these conditions have had on the natural environment, with extensive browning of green spaces and farmland due to high evaporation and low rainfall.
Only 13 per cent of rivers are currently at normal levels for this time of year, the National Drought Group said.
Many areas have had no rain at all these months. But a spike in demand for water has been met with hosepipe bans now affected over 20 million customers.
Experts have warned that the extreme heats evidence the impacts of human-influenced climate change.
Mike Kendon, a Met Office climate information scientist, said last week: “What we used to think of as extreme, we increasingly consider as normal.
“Every year is adding to the body of evidence showing climate change in the UK,” he added.
“We are right now living in a time of historic and unprecedented change and in terms of temperature, on annual, seasonal, monthly and daily timescales, this evidence shows the climate of the 20th century has now gone.”
A new Met Office report adds that the last four years are all in the top five warmest years in UK history, with 2025 being the hottest. It is possible that 2026 could break the record again.
Alongside the daytime peaks, prolonged ‘tropical nights’ – where temperatures remain above 20C – have caused many to lose sleep and prevented green spaces from fully recovering.
The UK saw a new record for overnight temperatures, with 23.5C recorded at Cardiff Bute Park on 25 June, surpassing the previous record of 20C set in 2023.
Outside of the UK, severe heatwave conditions have been experienced across Europe this year, with France particularly affected by dangerous conditions.
The country recorded over 2,000 excess deaths in June, hitting its hottest ever nationwide temperature on June 24, when it reached nearly 41C in Paris.
Meteorologists say the heatwaves have been caused by a persistent high-pressure ‘heat dome’ over western Europe, which has trapped warm air from the Atlantic and southern regions.
Temperatures now appear to be cooling for most parts of the UK, with the third heatwave of the year ending for much of the country.
However, ITV’s weather service has predicted that another heatwave could begin at the start of August if an area of high pressure that has been detected continues to build.
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