Weather and Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

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UK last month

July 2026

July was a hot and dry month for many, with high pressure conditions dominating for most of the month. The month opened with some rain across Scotland and western areas, whilst the south of the UK saw more settled conditions. Temperatures soon began to rise in the south, and heatwave conditions were met across England and Wales as high pressure settled over the UK. This resulted in nearly two weeks of temperatures above 25°C, and often above 30°C, in many areas. Although temperatures then decreased to average or below average for some areas around the 18^th/19^th, especially eastern areas, this cooler weather did not last and temperatures soon increased to above average again across most of the UK, although not quite as hot as in the beginning of the month. July ended with a north/south divide as temperatures remained above average in the south, especially the southeast, but dropped to below average in the north, which also saw some more rainfall. Rain was in short supply in the south of the UK, with some areas seeing little to no rain across the entire month. In combination with the heat and abundant sunshine, this led to drought conditions affecting the whole of Wales and around half of England.

The month saw above average temperatures and sunshine but below average rainfall for the UK. This was the sixth consecutive month where the UK mean temperature was over 1°C above the long-term average: the month closed with the UK seeing its second warmest July on record, with a provisional anomaly of 2.1°C above the 1991-2020 average. It was England’s second warmest July as well, and Wales’s joint warmest on record. Rainfall was particularly scarce, with the UK overall provisionally seeing just 35% of the long-term average, the third driest July on record. England and Wales both recorded their driest Julys, seeing less than 10mm of rainfall over the entire month. Nineteen counties including Berkshire and Surrey recorded less than 1mm of rainfall in July. Although Scotland saw more rain than other parts of the UK, it still recorded below average rainfall, provisionally just 69% of the long-term average. Northern Ireland was also very dry, with counties Down and Armagh both recording their driest Julys on record. Sunshine hours were well above average in July, leading to the sunniest July on record for the UK, England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland also saw well above average sunshine in July.

The UK provisional monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 35.5°C was recorded at Wisley (Surrey) on the 9^th. A minimum temperature of 0.3°C was recorded at Tomintoul No. 6 (Banffshire) on the 27^th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 6^th, 66.2mm of rain fell at Loch Shiel, Polloch (Argyll). A wind gust of 53 knots (61 mph) was recorded at Brizlee Wood (Northumberland) on the 2^nd.

Regional values for July 2026