Weekend cooldown to mark end of heatwave for some
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- Northern Scotland will see maximum temperatures fall by up to seven degrees Celsius on Saturday compared to Thursday, ending the heatwave there
- North-west England will see temperatures drop by five to six degrees Celsius from Thursday's peak, falling to the low 20s by Saturday
- Southern England has met or exceeded the heatwave threshold for 12 consecutive days and could see readings return to 30C after the weekend cooldown
- Wisley in Surrey and Herstmonceux in East Sussex have gone close to 30 days without rain, with several other eastern and West Midlands locations exceeding 20 dry days
- Dry conditions and increased water demand have triggered hosepipe bans affecting more than eight million households in England, with Wales and Northern Ireland also far drier than average
- The Met Office's 2025 state of the climate report found the hottest day of the year in southern England is now typically 4.5C warmer than in the 1961–1990 baseline, declaring that 'climate extremes are becoming the new normal' in the UK
Why it matters: More than eight million English households are already living under hosepipe bans as parts of southeast England approach 30 consecutive dry days, and the Met Office's own climate report now says the UK's hottest days are running 4.5C above the 1961-1990 baseline — turning what looks like a weather story into a recurring infrastructure and climate-adaptation problem.
