Another day at 35C.
The UK is baking. And it’s going to stay this way until next week ends. Five million people can forget about watering their gardens, too. Hosepipe bans are in force across southern and eastern England after four water companies pulled the trigger.
Hot.
On Thursday, temperatures breached 34C for the first time. No. The eighth time. We broke the old record of seven days, which stood since 1976. With Friday’s high of 34.7 in Coton in the Elms we are sitting at nine. It keeps piling up.
And you think sleeping through the heat is easy.
Five places had “tropical nights” last night. Meaning the mercury stayed above 20C while everyone else sweated through their pillows.
There is talk of relief this weekend. A north-easterly breeze might scrub some of the humidity away. Maybe. But the Health Security Agency won’t let anyone breathe easy. Amber and yellow warnings remain active across large swaths of England until Sunday evening.
Let’s look at where it burned hottest.
Wisley in Surrey hit 35.5C on Thursday. That is the peak so far for this July stretch.
But the rest of the country isn’t immune.
Wales reached 31.3 in Cardiff. Scotland got 29.3 in Charterhall. Northern Ireland saw 27.5 in Killowen. It is not just London feeling it.
The “tropical night” list reads like a geography lesson from the south:
– Heathrow, London: 21.3
– Cippenham, Berkshire: 21.2
– Kenley, Surrey: 20.6
– St Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight: 20.5
– Northolt, London: 20.3
By Friday the heat engine moves west. Berkshire. Wiltshire. Hampshire. Parts of Oxfordshire and eastern Wales could see 34 or even 35C. The pressure system shifts north. A breeze comes in. Inland areas feel less like ovens. But only slightly.
Is it breaking all-time records? No.
The all-time high of 40.3 back in 2022 isn’t being challenged here. But consistency is its own kind of monster. The Met Office confirmed we have hit eight days at or above 34C in 2026 alone.
Two in May. Four in June. Two in this heatwave so far. Friday brings number nine. It beats 1976 and 5 beats 2020 on this specific metric. It feels heavier now because it lingers.
Remember June? We hit 37.7 in Norfolk then. Smashing records left and right. Cardiff hit 35.9. Northern Ireland touched 30.8. Scotland came close to its 1893 record. Now we are just enduring the July equivalent. It won’t match 1976’s sixteen consecutive days above 30, but nobody asked if it would. We are just asking it to stop.
Water companies are panicked. Or practical. Whatever.
Anglian Water imposed its first hosepipe ban in ten years starting Saturday at 01:00 BST. Southern Water banned use for one million homes in Hampshire and the Isle of Wright. South East Water is restricting supplies. Cambridge Water announced its first ban in thirty years on Thursday.
Why?
Rain hasn’t shown up. Spring 2026 was 14% below average rain nationwide, but the distribution was brutally uneven. Northern England got 90% of what it needs. Southern England? Fifty percent.
Suffolk saw one-third of its usual seasonal rain. Kent. Essex. Cambridgeshire. The City of London. All hovering around those grim 30-35% figures. Dry soil soaks up whatever falls. Nothing runs into the rivers. Tanks drop.
“It’s not just the sun.”
Add pollen to the mix. And a lot of it.
Grass pollen is usually the main offender. Weed pollen is ramping up now. The recipe for misery is simple. Heat. No wind. No rain to wash the spores away. Pollen accumulates in the air until it becomes a physical weight on your lungs.
Then the breeze finally comes. From the east on Friday.
Gentle winds don’t just cool you down. They carry allergens over huge distances. For anyone with hay fever, the warm days are bad enough. The oppressive nights are worse. This combination turns a summer day into a endurance test.
We wait for the weekend breeze.
We hope it cools the asphalt.
But next week looks hot again.
