Half of July is gone. The sky is stubborn.
In southern England, we’ve logged nearly double our average sunshine. Southern and south-west pockets have soaked in the rays while hitting over 30°C for ten straight days. The heat isn’t polite either. It swept from the coast straight to Scotland. It took Wales too. Even Northern Ireland felt it.
Yeovilton in Somerset? About 152 hours. Odiham in Hampshire? Same tally. Just thirteen days into the month. It’s unusual.
High pressure is the culprit. Air sinks. Clouds don’t form. Sometimes you see cloud in the morning, sure. The sun just burns it away. Unless you’re on the North Sea coast where the stuff hangs around a bit longer.
Dry? Oh, completely.
Wisley in Surrey hasn’t seen rain for twenty-seven days. Other parts of England got 0% of their usual rainfall. Millions are banned from using hosepipes. The ground is parched. Fire risk climbs.
It was the third heatwave of the year. The peak hit last Thursday and Friday. 35°C. Hot.
It’s cooled slightly since then, barely. But ten consecutive days above 30°C was the headline on Tuesday. London bore the brunt—Teddington, Kew Gardens, Heathrow, Richmond. All topped 30°C.
Wind was blowing from the east, pushing heat west. Now the wind eases. The heat spreads wider. It might hit Scotland and Northern Ireland hard again. This week.
The weekend looks softer. Highs dropping. Scotland and Ireland might only hit 22°C. Southern England will linger around 28°C. Warm, yes, but a relief compared to the furnace. A northerly wind shifts the high pressure slightly. Just a break.
Then?
Next week the pressure builds again. No rain. More sun. Temperatures climb. Again.
Check the app. It never hurts.
This isn’t normal anymore. Not in the old sense. The UK has hit over 35°C for three months running. That would have been a statistical blip once a year in the Twentieth Century. Now it’s happening all the time.
The Met Office called it. In their 2025 climate report, they said the old climate is dead. Mike Kendon, the lead author, put it plainly. The 20th Century weather we grew up with? It’s gone.
Annual averages are up. The last ten years are 1.33°C warmer than 1961 to 1990. The last four years sit in the top five hottest on record.
Kendon worries about the extremes though. Days over 30°C have quadrupled in Greater London. The single hottest day of the year is now 4.5°C hotter than before.
“Climate extremes are becoming the new normal”
35°C won’t be a shock next summer. It’ll be expected. Just part of the season.
Every year adds another line of evidence. What happens if we keep expecting it?
