UK Faces More Heatwaves After Record-Breaking June
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- UK has experienced two heatwaves in two months, shattering long-standing temperature records in both May and June — a back-to-back pattern not seen since 1911
- Met Office issued its second-ever red extreme heat warning (first since the system began in 2021) for south-east Wales and southern England, forcing school closures and straining the transport network
- Met Office three-month outlook forecasts 'an increased chance of heatwaves and heat-related impacts' plus 'above-average temperatures' for July and August, while MeteoGroup flagged 'a few notable high temperature spikes'
- Kew Gardens, London set a new UK May temperature record of 35.1C this summer, and the Met Office says the UK is now twice as likely to have a hotter summer compared with the 1991-2020 baseline
- Coningsby, Lincolnshire recorded 40.3C in July 2022 — the UK's first ever reading above 40C — and Met Office projections warn mid-40s temperatures could be possible by 2050 at current warming rates
- World Weather Attribution concluded the extreme June heat across Western Europe would have been 'impossible just a few decades ago,' while Dr Theodore Keeping of Imperial College London said climate change's link to worsening heatwaves is 'settled'
- El Niño was officially declared in the Pacific, but Dr James Pope of the Met Office said there is 'no discernible link' between El Niño and UK summer heatwaves — its typical UK effect is a colder winter spell
Why it matters: The pattern is measurably accelerating: only the second red extreme heat warning since 2021 was issued this week, and the Met Office says hotter summers are now twice as likely versus the 1991-2020 baseline. Schools closed and transport strained across south-east Wales and southern England, demonstrating that extreme heat now triggers the operational shutdowns historically reserved for snow days.
