England records hottest June ever as red heat alert hits three days
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- Met Office confirmed June was England's hottest on record, with Wales and the UK recording their second-warmest June since records began in 1884.
- Red extreme heat warnings were issued for three consecutive days in late June — the first time since the alert category was introduced in 2021 — driven by exceptionally warm 'tropical nights' that stayed above 20°C.
- Dr Emily Carlisle of the Met Office said five of the first six months of 2026 have posted mean temperatures at least 1°C above average, with only January below average.
- Kew Gardens in London hit 35.1°C in May, smashing its previous station record of 29.3°C and the prior UK May record of 32.8°C, in what the Met Office called 'values more typical of mid-summer'.
- Prof Stephen Belcher, the Met Office's chief scientist, said human-induced climate change made the June heatwave more likely and more intense, warning of 'significant health implications from heat stress'.
- Dr Christopher Callahan of Indiana University estimated the European heatwave killed more than 20,000 people between 22 and 28 June, including 862 in the UK, over 5,000 in France, and 4,500 in Germany.
- The June heat followed the warmest spring on record for England and Wales, the Met Office said.
Why it matters: The temperature record is striking, but the mortality data is the real headline: Dr Callahan's modelling links the late-June heatwave to over 20,000 excess deaths across Europe in a single week, including 862 in the UK — translating an abstract climate metric into a concrete public-health toll and underscoring the Met Office's warning that heat events of this intensity will become more frequent.
