Summer 2026 could be the UK's hottest ever experts say

Could this summer be the hottest the UK has ever had?

The Met Office - the UK's national weather service - says summer 2026 is on course to break the record set just last year.

It comes after months of unusually hot and sunny weather, with some parts of the country facing a fifth heatwave this week.

The dry weather has led to drought being currently declared in more than two-thirds of England and all of Wales.

The Met Office says the UK's average temperature so far this summer is around 1.88C higher than usual.

For summer 2026 to become the hottest on record, only average conditions are needed for the rest of August.

There have already been several heatwaves in parts of the country this year.

A late-spring heatwave set a new May temperature record.

This was followed by another heatwave in June, and a third in July which lasted for two weeks in places.

The highest temperature of the summer so far was 38C recorded in Norfolk on 26 June.

Several other long-standing weather records have also been broken.

This year is the first on record when 35C or above has been reached in three separate months - May, June and July.

With 38C predicted later in the week, August could become the fourth month to reach that mark.

It has also been the driest July in both England and Wales since records began in 1836.

Experts say that this is the type of summer that scientists have long warned about due to climate change.

Although temperatures can change from one year to the next, summers are expected to get hotter on average as carbon emissions continue to heat up the planet.