Britain has experienced its hottest summer on record, according to provisional data from the national weather service. Met Office figures due on Tuesday are expected to show that the previous record, set in 2025, has been broken following an unprecedented summer of persistent heat.
In England, temperatures reached a peak of 38.1C (100.1F) at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August. This followed a June that had already been confirmed as the country's hottest since records began in 1884. These record-breaking and back-to-back heatwaves have also scorched much of Europe.
Meteorologists reported an average mean temperature of 16.5C, stating that this result was made roughly 130 times more likely by human-induced climate change. Scientists have noted that such heatwaves are only possible because of the climate crisis driven by the burning of fossil fuels.