The Hottest Days in UK History, Ranked
The hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK is 40.3°C (104.5°F), set at Coningsby, Lincolnshire on 19 July 2022 — the first time Britain ever reached 40°C. Here is every UK heat record, ranked and dated, and how the record climbed to get there.
For most of living memory, a truly hot British day meant the low-to-mid 30s. Then, on 19 July 2022, the thermometer at Coningsby in Lincolnshire read 40.3°C — and the country crossed a line it had never crossed before. It was not a fluke reading at one rogue station: dozens of sites beat the old national record that afternoon, and west London's Heathrow reached about 40.2°C.
What makes that number land is the trajectory behind it. The UK heat record has climbed nearly 5°C in the space of a single lifetime, and 2026 has already added a fresh chapter with the hottest June day ever measured. This is the full record, ranked and dated — and, for the all-time context across the continent, our look at the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe puts Britain's 40.3°C alongside Sicily's 48.8°C.
The UK's Hottest Readings, Ranked
The highest documented temperatures in UK history, hottest first. Every figure is from the Met Office; the June 2026 reading is provisional pending ratification.
The all-time UK record — and the first time 40°C was ever recorded in Britain.
The record that stood until 2022.
The 2003 European heatwave — the first time the UK was thought to have passed 38°C.
A brief, intense spike during the 2020 summer.
The hottest June day ever recorded in the UK — the June record fell three days in a row.
The heatwave that first pushed England past 37°C.
The benchmark of a generation — and the June record that stood for 50 years, until 2026.
Records by Nation
England runs hottest by a wide margin, but each of the four nations set its all-time high in the same two summers — 2021 and 2022.
| Nation | All-time high | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 40.3°C / 104.5°F | Coningsby, Lincolnshire | 19 July 2022 |
| Wales | 37.1°C / 98.8°F | Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire | 18 July 2022 |
| Scotland | 34.8°C / 94.6°F | Charterhall, Scottish Borders | 19 July 2022 |
| Northern Ireland | 31.3°C / 88.3°F | Castlederg, County Tyrone | 21 July 2021 |
Northern Ireland's 31.3°C at Castlederg (21 July 2021) is the newest of the four, and Castlederg holds the odd distinction of also owning Northern Ireland's lowest temperature on record — a swing of over 50°C at one village.
June 2026: A Record-Breaking Month
The most recent entries on this list are only days old. During the late-June 2026 heatwave, the UK's June temperature record fell on three consecutive days — first 36.7°C at Merryfield in Somerset, and finally a provisional 37.3°C at Santon Downham, Suffolk on 26 June. That beat a June record of 35.6°C that had stood since 1976. The Met Office issued a Red Extreme Heat Warning, its most serious heat alert, and more than 150 weather stations set their own hottest-June figure.
The nights were the quieter shock. Cardiff's Bute Park held 23.5°C overnight on 25 June — a UK record for June that smashed the old 20.0°C mark from 2023. We break the whole episode down in the 2026 UK heatwave records, and set it in continental context in the 2026 European heatwave by the numbers.
How the Record Climbed
Line up the milestones and the pattern is hard to miss. The famous drought summer of 1976 peaked at 35.6°C. It took until 1990 for England to nudge past 37°C, and until the 2003 European heatwave to reach 38.5°C at Faversham. The 2019 record (38.7°C) added barely two-tenths of a degree over 16 years — and then 2022 leapt all the way to 40.3°C in a single step.
That 40°C threshold matters because it had long been treated as almost hypothetical for Britain. Met Office research has found that human-caused warming had already made a 40°C day in the UK far more likely than it would have been in a natural climate, and reaching it in 2022 was, in that sense, on schedule. Each additional fraction of background warming lifts the ceiling of what a heatwave can reach — which is how the UK went from a June record of 35.6°C to breaking it three days in a row in 2026. The same long-term trend shows up in our data on 2026 as the hottest year on record and in the US, where dozens of cities have warmed sharply since 1990.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK?
40.3°C (104.5°F), at Coningsby, Lincolnshire on 19 July 2022 — the first time Britain ever recorded 40°C, according to the Met Office.
When was the UK's hottest day?
19 July 2022. Dozens of stations beat the previous record of 38.7°C (Cambridge, 2019) on the same afternoon.
What was the hottest June day in the UK?
A provisional 37.3°C at Santon Downham, Suffolk on 26 June 2026, set during the June 2026 heatwave. The June record had stood at 35.6°C since 1976. See the 2026 UK heatwave records.
What is London's hottest day on record?
About 40.2°C at Heathrow on 19 July 2022 — just below the national high of 40.3°C set the same day at Coningsby.
Keep Exploring
For every category of British extreme — cold, rain, snow and wind — see the full UK weather records hub, explore the UK's climate and seasons, browse European weather on this day, or look up the weather on any past date with our historical lookup tool.
Sources
All-time and national records are from the Met Office “UK climate extremes” and the Met Office June 2026 heatwave recap, cross-checked against Wikipedia's “United Kingdom weather records.” Late-June 2026 figures are provisional pending Met Office ratification.