UK Records Hottest June Day Ever at 36.1C
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- The Met Office recorded 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, on Wednesday — the UK's hottest June day on record, breaking the 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976 and Camden in 1957, with the figure marked provisional pending verification.
- The Met Office issued only its second-ever red extreme heat warning since the system began in 2021, covering parts of south and central England and south Wales, with temperatures forecast to hit about 38C on Friday and "feels like" readings above 40C.
- More than 800 schools in England were disrupted by the heat, and train operators including South Western Railway, Thameslink, Northern and Avanti West Coast told passengers to make only essential journeys under reduced timetables, with Network Rail extending the advisory into Friday.
- The UK Health Security Agency issued a red heat-health alert until 23:00 Thursday, warning of "population-wide adverse health effects" and risk to life for even the healthy population, alongside forecasts of "tropical nights" with temperatures staying above 20C.
- Met Office chief scientist Stephen Belcher linked the heatwave to climate change, stating "to see temperatures like this in the UK in June is sobering," and noted the number of UK days exceeding 30C more than trebled between 2015–2024 versus the 1961–1990 average.
- National Heat Commission's Emma Howard-Boyd said the school closures and transport disruption showed the UK was "not prepared" for the heat, calling for heat resilience to be prioritized in school and transport upgrades.
- The heatwave is part of a broader European event in which France recorded its hottest day since records began in 1947, with Paris temperatures above 40C.
Why it matters: This is only the Met Office's second red extreme heat warning since 2021. The breakdown of 800+ schools and major rail services under 36C+ heat exposes how unprepared UK infrastructure is for conditions the Met Office itself says are now tripling in frequency.
