The Hottest and Coldest Places in the UK
The hottest place in the UK on record is Coningsby, Lincolnshire, where the mercury hit 40.3°C (104.5°F) in July 2022 — while the coldest, Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, has plunged to −27.2°C (−17°F). That is a spread of more than 67°C across one small island.
“Hottest place” is really two questions, and most articles only answer one. There is the hottest place by record — the single highest reading ever taken — and the hottest place by average, where it is reliably warm and sunny year after year. They are not the same spot, and conflating them is why the answers online tend to disagree. This page splits them cleanly, for heat and for cold.
The short version: record extremes cluster in the East and South East of England for heat, and in the Scottish Highlands for cold. But the consistently warmest, sunniest places sit along the English south coast, and the reliably coldest are the Highland glens. Geography — latitude, altitude, the sea, and the shape of the land — decides all of it.
The Hottest Places by Record
The highest temperatures ever documented, hottest first. Note how tightly they bunch in eastern and south-eastern England — the parts of Britain furthest from the cooling Atlantic. All figures from the Met Office.
The UK all-time high — and the first time Britain ever reached 40°C.
London’s hottest reading, set on the same afternoon just below the national record.
The record that stood until 2022 — the East of England runs hot.
The Kent–Sussex corner of the South East is a reliable UK hotspot.
For the full ranked timeline of British heat — and how the record climbed nearly 5°C in a lifetime — see the hottest days in UK history.
The Warmest and Sunniest on Average
Records are set on freak days; what most people actually mean by “the hottest place” is where summers are warm and the sun shows up. That title belongs to the English south coast and South East. The counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent are the sunniest in the UK, averaging around 1,750 hours of sunshine a year, and towns such as Bognor Regis and Eastbourne regularly top the national sunshine tables.
London and its surroundings run warm for a different reason: the urban heat island. All that brick, tarmac and concrete stores daytime heat and releases it slowly overnight, which is why the capital's summer nights are noticeably muggier than the countryside around it — and why London posts some of the UK's highest minimum temperatures.
The Coldest Places by Record
The lowest temperatures on record. Scotland dominates — but England and Wales have both come startlingly close, and the England record shows the cold is not purely a Highland story.
The joint UK record low — a classic Highland frost hollow in the Cairngorms.
The third occasion the UK has hit −27.2°C, deep in the far north of Scotland.
The lowest ever recorded in England — proof the cold record isn’t Scotland’s alone.
The Welsh record low, in the sparsely populated mid-Wales uplands.
The Coldest on Average
For year-round cold, the answer is the Highland glens of the Cairngorms and the far north — Braemar, Aviemore and Dalwhinnie among them. These are the places that combine genuine altitude with the frost-hollow effect, so they log more frosts, more snow-lying days and lower averages than anywhere else in Britain. Dalwhinnie, at over 350m, is often cited as one of the coldest inhabited spots in the UK by mean temperature.
Why Geography Decides It
Four levers explain almost every entry above:
- Latitude. Southern England gets a higher summer sun and longer heat than the north — the basic reason heat records sit in the south.
- Altitude. Air cools about 6.5°C for every 1,000m of height. Highland stations start cold before any other factor kicks in.
- Distance from the sea. The Atlantic is a giant thermostat — it keeps the coast mild in winter but caps summer heat. Inland eastern England, furthest from that moderation, swings hottest and can turn very cold.
- Frost hollows. On calm, clear nights cold air is denser and drains downhill, pooling in valley floors. It is why a Highland glen like Braemar can out-freeze exposed hilltops nearby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the hottest place in the UK?
By record, Coningsby, Lincolnshire (40.3°C, July 2022). By average, the South East and south coast of England — Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the London area.
Where is the coldest place in the UK?
Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, which has fallen to −27.2°C (matched at Altnaharra). Highland glens are also the coldest on average.
What's the sunniest place in Britain?
The south-coast counties (Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent), averaging about 1,750 hours of sunshine a year.
Why is Braemar so cold?
Altitude plus the frost-hollow effect: on calm winter nights, dense cold air drains into the glen and pools there, while its elevation keeps it cold by day.
Keep Exploring
See every category of UK weather record, read the full ranking of the UK's hottest days ever recorded and the story of the summer 2026 heatwave, explore the UK's regional climates, or check the historical weather for any UK town on any past date.
Sources
Record extremes are from the Met Office “UK climate extremes” and “UK daily weather extremes” pages, with sunshine and averages from Met Office climate data, cross-checked against Wikipedia's “United Kingdom weather records.”