Another day, another June record (again)

June 25, 2026 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

The temperature of 37.3°C recorded at Santon Downham, Suffolk, represents a new June maximum record for the UK just a day after a new record of 36.7°C was recorded at Merryfield, Somerset,

It is also now the 6th hottest day ever recorded, beating the 1990 record set at Cheltenham.

The top 10 list below shows the day. Kew Gardens was 2°C cooler – more in keeping with heat records.

The previous day was different in that Merryfield, a site 119 miles SW of Kew Gardens, was some 5.1C hotter than Kew which recorded just 31.6C!

Kew Gardens, and other London stations, are usually no more than around 2C cooler than where records are set.

It would seem that the strong easterly breeze helped keep a lid on the temperature in the east of the UK on Thursday.

Weather

Wanstead and the UK’s top 10 hottest days

June 23, 2026 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Britain’s capital is often the location of the UK’s hottest weather but a look back to 1911 shows it is often elsewhere the mercury is highest.

The highest temperature record has been broken three times in my lifetime. Before the first occasion in August 1990 you’d often see press articles speculating: “Will the UK ever break 100 Fahrenheit?

Polo advert for the heatwave that coincided with the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday in 1990

Though 100F was recorded at Greenwich in August 1911 the station’s use of a Glaisher stand (an instrument that depends on the observer turning it away from direct sunlight throughout the day) the record was deemed unsafe and a temperature of 36.7C at Raunds, Northants, was established as the new record.

The record stood for nearly 80 years before it was eclipsed, 37.1C being measured at Chelteham.

Thirteen years later the record was broken again, this time Brogdale, near Faversham, registering 38.5C.

Sixteen years on Cambridge became the UK’s hottest place, recording 38.7C. Just three years later the UK recorded >40C for the first time, a record of 40.3C at Coningsby, Lincs.

The table below shows how Wanstead and stations around London faired on each day.

Of note is how much cooler this area is when the core of the heat is at Wisley. The 10th hottest day on July 19th 2006 saw 36.5C recorded at the RHS garden, but Wanstead was nearly 3C cooler.

Today (23/06/2026) Wisley recorded 34.6C yet Wanstead, at 31.9C, was again nearly 3C cooler.

Weather

Hours of thunder on June 23, 2026

June 23, 2026 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

I noticed the first drops of rain from this event riding back over Wanstead Flats from the Holly Tree around 10pm, thoughts of Messi’s majesty in Argentina’s win against Austria fast being replaced by watching clouds bubbling overhead.

Reaching home the drops didn’t come to much and I wondered if the action would miss us, like so many damp squibs in the past.

Nevertheless, I closed the roof windows and sure enough the first heavy rain arrived at 0130. And rumbled on and off for another four hours. It reminded me of the overnight storms that were so common in the 1980s.

Some 36.8mm fell, the greatest June downpour at this station for 10 years. This month’s rainfall total now stands at 93mm, 181% of average, the wettest June for 10 years and 7th wettest back to 1960.

It feels strange that the storm happened 10 years almost to the minute of the Brexit deluge of 2016.

Radar from the storm can be found at this link.