UK Heatwave & Climate Change Timeline (1900–2026): Records, Evidence, Health Impacts & Adaptation
UK heatwave and climate change timeline (1900-2026): record temperatures, the 40.3C day, Met Office science, health impacts and adaptation.
The United Kingdom is warming, and its heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting. This UK heatwave and climate change timeline traces the story in reverse chronological order, from the record June heat of 2026 back to the historic summers of the early 20th century. It brings together Met Office observations, long-term climate trends, peer-reviewed attribution studies and official public-health and adaptation measures — keeping observed weather, established climate science and editorial interpretation clearly separate. It explains why the UK first passed 40°C in 2022, what the science does and does not say, and how the country is adapting.
🌡️ UK Heatwaves in 60 Seconds — AI Overview
UK heatwaves are periods of unusually hot weather — officially, three or more consecutive days above a county-specific temperature threshold. They are becoming more frequent, hotter and longer as the climate warms. The UK’s all-time high is 40.3°C, recorded at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on 19 July 2022 — the first time the country exceeded 40°C.
The Met Office monitors and forecasts heat; the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issues heat-health alerts. Peer-reviewed attribution science shows human-caused climate change has made extreme UK heat far more likely — the 40°C event was made at least ten times more probable. Adaptation now spans cooler homes, resilient transport, and public-health planning to reduce the roughly 2,000+ heat-related deaths the UK sees in a typical year.
UK Heatwaves & Climate: Key Questions
UK Heat & Climate at a Glance
- Record heat: the UK first passed 40°C on 19 July 2022, reaching 40.3°C at Coningsby — a milestone in UK climate history.
- Warming trend: summer 2025 was the UK’s warmest on record, and June 2026 was England’s warmest June, part of a clear long-term rise.
- Attribution: peer-reviewed science shows climate change has made extreme UK heat far more likely, without being the sole cause of any one event.
- Health matters: heat is a serious health risk, with roughly 2,000+ heat-related deaths in a typical UK year, concentrated among older and vulnerable people.
- Adaptation: UKHSA and the Met Office run heat-health alerts, while the Climate Change Committee warns that homes, transport and infrastructure need faster adaptation.
- Balanced evidence: this timeline separates observed weather, established climate science and editorial analysis, and states uncertainty where it exists.
Defining Moments
Six reference points that shaped the UK’s experience of heat and climate. Ordering reflects editorial judgement of long-term significance.
All-time high
Trend signal
Historic
Turning point
Latest
Adaptation
UK Heatwave & Climate Timeline (2026 → 1900)
Reverse chronological — latest events first. Each entry notes the weather event, temperature records, regions, conditions, climate context, evidence and impacts.
13 August 2026: fifth-hottest day on record as summer nears the top spot
Weather event (observed): the Met Office recorded a provisional 38.1°C at Kew Gardens, London, on 13 August 2026 — the UK’s fifth-hottest day on record and the hottest day of the year so far, a tenth of a degree above the 38°C reached at Pershore, Worcestershire, and Lingwood, Norfolk, earlier in the year. Around 40 locations across central and southern England reached 36°C or higher, and it was the UK’s sixth heatwave of summer 2026.
Public-health impact: UKHSA amber heat-health alerts covered all regions of England through the mid-August peak, warning of increased risk to health and social care services as the heat persisted.
Climate context: provisional Met Office figures put the summer (from 1 June) mean at 16.48°C, above the 16.10°C that made 2025 the UK’s warmest summer on record — putting 2026 on course to break that record for a second year running, subject to final figures once August ends.
June 2026: England’s warmest June on record
Weather event (observed): the Met Office confirmed June 2026 as England’s warmest June on record (mean 17.1°C, series from 1884), and the second warmest for the UK and Wales. A provisional 37.7°C at Lingwood, Norfolk, on 26 June set a UK June daytime record — over 2°C above the previous June high of 35.6°C (1957, matched in 1976).
Temperature records: new overnight records followed as warm nights persisted — 23.5°C at Cardiff Bute Park (UK and Wales) and 23.2°C at Hastings (England). Over 150 weather stations set their highest-ever June maximum, some with more than a century of data.
Climate context & impact: the heat built under a blocking high, and warm nights — a growing signature of a warming climate — gave little overnight relief, raising health risks and pressuring transport and schools. Final mortality figures are assessed by UKHSA and ONS after the season.
2025: the UK’s warmest summer on record
Weather event (observed): summer 2025 (June–August) became the warmest on record for the UK, with a mean temperature of 16.10°C, some 1.51°C above the long-term average and beating the previous record of 15.76°C set in 2018. The season featured four separate heatwaves.
Scientific evidence: the peak of 35.8°C (Faversham, Kent) stayed below the 2022 all-time high, but it was the persistent, repeated warmth that set the record. Met Office analysis found a summer as hot or hotter than 2025 is now around 70 times more likely than in a natural climate without human emissions.
Public-health impact: amber heat-health alerts covered much of England during the hottest spells, with UKHSA warning of raised risk to older and vulnerable people.
2024: adaptation in focus as heat planning matures
Government & policy: heat-health planning became more embedded, with UKHSA and the Met Office running the Weather-Health Alerting system each summer and the Climate Change Committee (CCC) pressing for faster action on overheating homes, hospitals and infrastructure.
Editorial analysis: repeated hot summers shifted the conversation from whether the UK gets extreme heat to how well it is prepared. Independent assessments continued to warn that adaptation was lagging behind the pace of warming.
Why it matters: the year underlined that reducing heat harm depends as much on buildings, health systems and warnings as on the weather itself.
2023: new heat-health alert system and warmest June
Government & policy: UKHSA and the Met Office launched a revamped Heat-Health Alert system, using colour-coded (yellow, amber, red) alerts tied to the likely health impact rather than temperature alone — a more targeted successor to the 2004 Heatwave Plan.
Weather event (observed): June 2023 was, at the time, the warmest June on record for the UK, part of a run of record-warm months and a warming global backdrop.
Scientific evidence: the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate reporting continued to document rising average temperatures, more hot days and fewer cold extremes across recent decades.
19 July 2022: the UK passes 40°C for the first time
Weather event (observed): on 19 July 2022, the UK recorded 40.3°C at Coningsby, Lincolnshire — the first time the country ever exceeded 40°C, breaking the 38.7°C set at Cambridge in 2019. The record was broken at 46 stations, six of which reached 40°C or above.
Government & policy: the Met Office issued its first-ever red warning for extreme heat, and UKHSA raised its heat alert to the highest level, warning of illness and death even among the fit and healthy.
Attribution (peer-reviewed): World Weather Attribution found that without human-caused climate change, 40°C in the UK would have been extremely unlikely; warming made the event at least ten times more likely. Wildfires and heat-related deaths, including drownings, marked the days around the record.
25 July 2019: 38.7°C at Cambridge
Weather event (observed): a brief but intense heat spike pushed temperatures to 38.7°C at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden on 25 July 2019 — a new UK record at the time, later surpassed in 2022.
Climate context: the event was part of a wider European heatwave that also set national records in several countries, driven by hot air drawn north from the continent.
Why it matters: it was one of a series of records falling in quick succession — a hallmark of a warming climate in which extreme highs are reached more often.
2018: the long, hot, dry summer
Weather event (observed): summer 2018 was, at the time, joint-warmest on record for the UK (mean 15.76°C), with prolonged heat and drought and peaks around 35°C. It featured several heatwaves and a notably dry, sun-baked landscape.
Public-health impact: analysis attributed roughly 863 excess deaths to the summer’s heat — a reminder that even without record-breaking peaks, sustained warmth is dangerous.
Editorial analysis: 2018 helped shift public understanding of UK heat from novelty to recurring risk, feeding into stronger heat-health planning.
2006: a record-warm July
Weather event (observed): July 2006 was, at the time, the warmest calendar month on record for the UK, part of a warm summer that pushed heat-health awareness up the agenda following the newly introduced Heatwave Plan.
Climate context: the mid-2000s saw a cluster of warm summers that, viewed together, fit a clear upward trend in UK summer temperatures documented by the Met Office.
Why it matters: repeated warm summers in the 2000s reinforced that 2003 was not a one-off, strengthening the case for systematic heat planning.
2004: the Heatwave Plan for England
Government & policy: in direct response to the deadly 2003 heatwave, England introduced the Heatwave Plan and an associated heat-health watch system — a coordinated framework for warnings and protective action across the NHS and social care.
Why it matters: it marked the moment UK heat was formally treated as a public-health emergency risk, not just a weather curiosity, laying the groundwork for today’s UKHSA alert system.
Editorial analysis: subsequent excess-death tolls showed plans alone are not enough — physical adaptation of homes and hospitals remained essential.
August 2003: the deadly European heatwave
Weather event (observed): the 2003 European heatwave brought extreme, prolonged heat across the continent. The UK reached about 38.5°C (Faversham, Kent, 10 August) — a national record at the time.
Public-health impact: the heat caused an estimated 2,000+ excess deaths in England and Wales, with the greatest toll among people over 75; across Europe, tens of thousands died. It remains a defining public-health lesson.
Government & policy: the disaster directly prompted England’s Heatwave Plan (2004) and long-term investment in heat-health warnings.
1990: warming signal and the first IPCC report
Climate context: 1990 was among the warmest years then recorded and coincided with the IPCC’s First Assessment Report, which set out the scientific basis for concern about human-caused warming and helped launch global climate policy.
Scientific evidence: from around this period, the long-term rise in UK and global temperatures became increasingly clear in the instrumental record, with the 1990s and each subsequent decade generally warmer than the last.
Why it matters: it marks the point when the UK’s hot spells began to be understood within a framework of accelerating climate change rather than natural variability alone.
Summer 1976: the legendary drought and heatwave
Weather event (observed): the summer of 1976 remains the UK’s benchmark heatwave. For 15 consecutive days from 23 June to 7 July, temperatures somewhere in Britain reached at least 32.2°C, peaking at 35.9°C. It was one of the sunniest, driest and warmest summers of the 20th century.
Infrastructure impact: a severe drought — parts of the south-west went 45 days without rain — led to standpipes, hosepipe bans, a Drought Act and a minister appointed to manage the crisis, alongside crop failures and wildfires.
Climate context: 1976 was primarily driven by natural weather patterns; researchers note that an identical summer today would be even hotter against a warmer baseline.
9 August 1911: a long-standing benchmark
Weather event (observed): on 9 August 1911, England recorded 36.7°C during a hot Edwardian summer — a figure that stood as a reference high for decades and was only decisively beaten in the record-breaking events of the 21st century.
Climate context: early-20th-century heat shows the UK has always had hot spells; what has changed is their frequency and peak intensity as the climate warms.
Why it matters: the contrast between 1911’s long-unbeaten 36.7°C and the rapid record-breaking of 2019 and 2022 illustrates the shift underway.
1900–1950: historic summers and the instrumental baseline
Climate context: the first half of the 20th century provides the baseline against which modern warming is measured. Notable warm, dry summers — such as 1911 and others — punctuated a period that was, on average, cooler than today.
Scientific evidence: long-running series such as the Central England Temperature record (among the world’s longest) allow scientists to compare recent decades against this earlier baseline and quantify the rise.
Why it matters: without this historic data, the scale of recent change — hotter summers, warmer nights and the first 40°C day — could not be measured with confidence.
The Science: Weather, Climate & Attribution
How heatwaves form, and what the evidence does — and does not — say about climate change.
The greenhouse effect and a warming baseline
The greenhouse effect is natural: gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat and keep Earth habitable. Human emissions have increased their concentration, raising the global — and UK — average temperature. This higher baseline means that when hot weather patterns occur, they start from a warmer point and reach higher peaks. The physics is well established and is the reason extreme heat that was once rare is now more common.
The jet stream and blocking high pressure
UK heatwaves usually form when the jet stream — a fast, high-altitude river of air — shifts north or buckles, allowing an area of blocking high pressure to settle over or near the country. Sinking air under the high suppresses cloud and rain, skies clear, and warm air is often drawn up from continental Europe or Africa. The block can persist for days, letting heat build. These are the immediate weather drivers; climate change alters the odds and severity of the outcome.
Climate attribution science
Attribution science uses observations and climate models to estimate how much human-caused warming changed the likelihood or intensity of a specific event. It does not claim a heatwave was “caused” solely by climate change; instead it answers how much more likely or more intense the event became. For the UK’s 40°C day in 2022, World Weather Attribution concluded human-caused climate change made it at least ten times more likely, and that such heat would have been extremely unlikely in a natural climate.
Weather versus climate
Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere; climate is the long-term average and its trends over decades. A single hot — or cool — spell is weather. The steady rise in the UK’s average temperature, the growing number of hot days and warmer nights, and the falling frequency of extreme cold are climate. Confusing the two is a common source of misunderstanding: cold snaps do not disprove warming, and no one hot day proves it either.
The urban heat island effect
Cities such as London can be several degrees warmer than surrounding countryside — the urban heat island effect. Concrete, asphalt and buildings absorb and re-radiate heat, traffic and air conditioning add warmth, and a lack of greenery and water reduces natural cooling. The effect is strongest at night, keeping city-dwellers hotter for longer and compounding health risks during heatwaves.
Adaptation versus mitigation
Two responses work together. Mitigation means cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to limit how much the climate warms — the UK’s net-zero pathway. Adaptation means preparing for the heat already locked in: cooler buildings, shading and green space, resilient railways and power grids, heat-health alerts and protection for vulnerable people. Adaptation reduces harm now; mitigation limits how severe future heat becomes.
Impacts Across Society
How extreme heat affects health, infrastructure and the natural world in the UK.
Public health
Heat is the most directly dangerous element of UK climate change. It strains the heart and worsens conditions such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heatstroke. Those most at risk are older people, babies and young children, and those with chronic illness or who are socially isolated. The UK sees roughly 2,000+ heat-related deaths in a typical year, a toll expected to rise without adaptation.
Transport and infrastructure
Extreme heat buckles and stresses railway tracks, prompting speed restrictions and delays; softens road surfaces; and can affect signalling and overhead lines. Power demand for cooling rises, and equipment can overheat. During the 2022 red-warning days, parts of the rail network reduced services and some infrastructure was damaged, underscoring the need for heat-resilient design.
Schools, homes and the built environment
Many UK schools and homes were designed to retain heat for cold winters, making them prone to overheating. Classrooms can become difficult to learn in, and poorly ventilated homes — especially top-floor flats — can stay dangerously warm overnight. The Climate Change Committee has repeatedly warned that overheating in buildings is an under-addressed risk requiring changes to design and retrofit.
Agriculture and water resources
Heat and drought reduce crop yields, stress livestock and lower river flows and reservoir levels, threatening water supplies and prompting hosepipe bans. The Environment Agency manages drought risk and water resources in England; prolonged dry, hot spells — as in 1976, 2018 and 2022 — test that system and farming alike.
Wildfires, energy and biodiversity
Hot, dry conditions raise wildfire risk on heaths, moorlands and grasslands, as seen during 2022. Energy systems face peaks in cooling demand even as some generation is stressed by heat. For wildlife and biodiversity, heat and drought can harm rivers and fish, shift species ranges and disrupt the timing of natural events, adding to pressures on already-stretched ecosystems.
Key Scientific & Public Bodies
The organisations that observe, explain and respond to UK heat and climate change.
Met Office
The UK’s national meteorological service, founded in 1854. It observes and forecasts weather, verifies temperature records, issues weather warnings, and publishes climate science including the annual State of the UK Climate report.
World Meteorological Organization
The WMO is the United Nations agency for weather, climate and water. It coordinates global observations, sets standards, verifies world and regional records, and publishes authoritative statements on the state of the global climate.
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assesses the peer-reviewed science of climate change for governments. Its assessment reports, beginning in 1990, underpin the global scientific consensus on human-caused warming and its impacts.
UK Health Security Agency
UKHSA protects public health from hazards including extreme heat. With the Met Office it runs the Weather-Health Alerting system, issuing colour-coded heat-health alerts and monitoring heat-related mortality each summer.
Climate Change Committee
The CCC is the UK’s independent statutory adviser on climate. It advises on emissions targets (mitigation) and assesses the country’s preparedness for climate impacts (adaptation), repeatedly flagging risks such as overheating homes.
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency manages flood and drought risk, water resources and the environment in England. During hot, dry spells it oversees drought planning, water-use restrictions and river and wildlife protection.
World Weather Attribution
WWA is an international scientific collaboration that rapidly assesses how climate change influenced specific extreme events. Its peer-reviewed methods produced the leading attribution analysis of the UK’s 2022 40°C heatwave.
Central England Temperature
The CET is the world’s longest continuous instrumental temperature series, running from 1659. It provides a uniquely long baseline for assessing how UK temperatures and heat extremes have changed over centuries.
Comparison & Statistics
Verified figures from Met Office records, UKHSA/ONS mortality monitoring and peer-reviewed studies. Values are rounded; some recent figures are provisional.
| Heatwave | 1976 | 2003 | 2018 | 2022 | 2026 (June) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak temperature | 35.9°C | ~38.5°C | ~35°C | 40.3°C | 37.7°C |
| Character | Weeks of heat + drought | ~10 days, early Aug | Prolonged dry summer | Short, extreme (2 days) | Several days, late June |
| Health impact | Heat illness (limited data) | ~2,000+ excess deaths | ~863 excess deaths | Thousands across summer | Assessed after season |
| Notable feature | Standpipes, drought act | Prompted Heatwave Plan | Revealed buried sites | First 40°C; first red warning | Warmest June; warm nights |
| Climate context | Mainly natural pattern | Warming emerging | Clear warming trend | Attribution: 10x likelier | ~70x likelier summers |
| UK temperature record | Value | Where | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-time UK maximum | 40.3°C | Coningsby, Lincolnshire | 19 Jul 2022 |
| Previous record | 38.7°C | Cambridge | 25 Jul 2019 |
| Earlier record | ~38.5°C | Faversham, Kent | 10 Aug 2003 |
| Long-standing benchmark | 36.7°C | England | 9 Aug 1911 |
| Fifth-hottest day (all-time) | 38.1°C | Kew Gardens, London | 13 Aug 2026 |
| Highest June temperature | 37.7°C | Lingwood, Norfolk | 26 Jun 2026 |
| Warmest summer (mean) | 16.10°C | UK average | Summer 2025 |
| Highest June overnight | 23.5°C | Cardiff Bute Park | 25 Jun 2026 |
| Heat mortality (UK) | Estimated excess deaths | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | ~2,000+ | European heatwave; led to Heatwave Plan |
| 2016 | ~900 | Summer heat periods |
| 2018 | ~863 | Long, hot, dry summer |
| 2022 | Thousands (multiple periods) | First 40°C year |
| Typical year | ~2,000+ heat-related | UKHSA/ONS monitoring |
⚠️ Reading the statistics responsibly
Temperatures are Met Office observations; some recent values are provisional until quality-checked. Excess-death figures are statistical estimates from UKHSA and ONS heat-mortality monitoring and vary by method and by how “heat periods” are defined. Attribution results (such as “ten times more likely”) are peer-reviewed central estimates with a range of uncertainty. Where a figure is an estimate or provisional, it is labelled as such.
📌 Featured Snippet — Why is the UK getting hotter?
The UK is getting hotter mainly because of human-caused climate change. Greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels trap heat, raising the average temperature. This higher baseline makes heatwaves more frequent, more intense and longer, and has pushed record highs upward — culminating in the first 40°C day in July 2022.
📌 Featured Snippet — What is climate attribution?
Climate attribution is the science of estimating how much human-caused climate change altered the likelihood or intensity of a specific extreme event. It uses observations and models to compare today’s climate with a hypothetical world without emissions. It does not say an event was caused solely by climate change — only how much more likely or severe it became.
Case Studies
Five events and responses that shaped the UK’s understanding of extreme heat.
Case Study 1 — The 1976 drought and heatwave
For 15 days from 23 June 1976, temperatures reached at least 32.2°C, peaking at 35.9°C, amid a drought so severe it brought standpipes, a Drought Act and a dedicated minister. Driven mainly by a persistent blocking high rather than climate change, 1976 remains the UK’s benchmark for a long, hot summer — and a reminder that the same pattern today would be even hotter against a warmer baseline.
Case Study 2 — The 2003 European heatwave
August 2003 brought prolonged extreme heat across Europe, with the UK reaching about 38.5°C. An estimated 2,000-plus excess deaths in England and Wales, concentrated among the over-75s, made it a public-health turning point. It directly prompted England’s Heatwave Plan in 2004 and reshaped how the country prepares for heat as a mortal risk.
Case Study 3 — The 2022 first 40°C day
On 19 July 2022 the UK exceeded 40°C for the first time, hitting 40.3°C at Coningsby under the first-ever red extreme-heat warning. World Weather Attribution found human-caused climate change made the event at least ten times more likely. It stands as a milestone in UK climate history and a stark illustration of attribution science in action.
Case Study 4 — The June 2026 heatwave
June 2026 became England’s warmest June on record, with 37.7°C at Lingwood and new overnight records at Cardiff and Hastings. Falling exactly 50 years after 1976, it was hotter and, tellingly, far warmer at night — a signature of a changing climate that reduces the overnight relief on which the body relies to recover from heat.
Case Study 5 — Climate adaptation in UK cities
Cities face the strongest urban heat island effect, especially at night. Adaptation responses include planting street trees and green roofs, adding shade and water, cooling public buildings and transport, and targeting heat-health alerts at vulnerable residents. The Climate Change Committee argues such measures must scale up quickly to keep pace with warming.
Myths vs Facts
Common misconceptions about UK heat and climate, corrected with evidence.
| Myth | Fact |
|---|---|
| One hot heatwave proves climate change. | No single event proves it. Climate change is shown by long-term trends; attribution science measures how much more likely or intense an event became. |
| The 1976 heatwave shows nothing has changed. | 1976 was hot by day but had cooler nights and was mainly a natural pattern. Recent summers are hotter overall, with far warmer nights and rising averages. |
| A cold winter disproves global warming. | Weather is not climate. Individual cold spells still occur, but the long-term trend is clearly toward warming, with fewer extreme-cold days. |
| Heat is not really dangerous in the UK. | Heat causes roughly 2,000+ deaths in a typical UK year, mostly among older and vulnerable people — it is a serious health risk. |
| Scientists say this heatwave was caused by climate change. | Scientists say climate change made it more likely and more intense, not that it was the sole cause. Multiple atmospheric factors drive any single event. |
Heat Safety & Public Health Guide
General guidance based on NHS and UKHSA advice. This is not medical advice — in an emergency call 999, or NHS 111 for urgent help.
Staying Safe in Extreme Heat
- Keep out of the heat: stay in the shade and avoid the sun during the hottest hours, roughly 11am to 3pm.
- Stay hydrated: drink water regularly and avoid excess alcohol and caffeine.
- Keep your home cool: close curtains and windows on the sunny side by day, and open up to ventilate when it is cooler at night.
- Protect the vulnerable: check on older neighbours, young children and anyone with health conditions or living alone.
- Never leave anyone in a parked car: temperatures inside rise fast and can be fatal for children, older people and pets.
- Cool down: use cool showers, damp cloths and cold packs, and wear light, loose clothing and a hat outdoors.
- Know the warning signs: heat exhaustion (dizziness, headache, heavy sweating) needs prompt cooling and rest; heatstroke (confusion, hot dry skin, collapse) is an emergency — call 999.
- Follow official alerts: heed UKHSA heat-health alerts and Met Office warnings, and plan activity around the coolest parts of the day.
Glossary of Climate & Meteorology Terms
Key Terms
- Heatwave — a period of unusually hot weather, officially three or more days above a county-specific threshold.
- Attribution science — estimating how much climate change changed an event’s likelihood or intensity.
- Greenhouse effect — the trapping of heat by atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
- Jet stream — a fast, high-altitude air current whose position shapes UK weather.
- Blocking high — a stationary high-pressure system that can lock in dry, hot conditions for days.
- Urban heat island — the tendency of cities to be warmer than surrounding rural areas, especially at night.
- Mitigation — cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to limit future warming.
- Adaptation — preparing for and reducing the harm from climate impacts already occurring.
- Excess deaths — deaths above the expected number, used to estimate a heatwave’s health toll.
- Heat-health alert — a colour-coded UKHSA/Met Office warning of heat risk to health.
- Central England Temperature — the world’s longest instrumental temperature record, from 1659.
- Baseline — a reference period against which climate change is measured.
Explore Related Timelines
Continue through connected histories of climate, weather and energy on AiTimeline.
📚 Official Sources & Scientific References
Primary sources: the Met Office (observations, records and the State of the UK Climate report); the World Meteorological Organization; the IPCC assessment reports; the UK Health Security Agency and ONS (heat-mortality monitoring); the Climate Change Committee and Environment Agency; and peer-reviewed World Weather Attribution studies.
Editorial standard: observed weather, long-term climate trends, attribution findings and government policy are kept clearly separate from editorial analysis, and uncertainty is stated where it exists. This page is updated after every significant heatwave, temperature record or new attribution study.
Frequently Asked Questions
50 detailed answers on UK heatwaves, records, climate science, health and adaptation.
Sources & further reading
Every dated entry above was checked against these references. Last reviewed 30 August 2026.