Heatwave: 2018 was the joint hottest summer for UK

2018 was the joint hottest summer on record for the UK as a whole, and the hottest ever for England, the Met Office has announced.

It said highs for summer 2018 were tied with those of 1976, 2003 and 2006 for being the highest since records began in 1910.

England's average temperatures narrowly beat those seen in 1976, they added.

The heatwave saw soaring temperatures across much of the UK throughout June and July.

Dry, sweltering conditions for weeks on end gave way to a more average August, said the Met Office.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45399134

My view
Definitely worth its own thread I think. Summer 2018 has turned out to be a historic one. Locally it was an absolute cracker and comparable to 2003. I have recollections of 1976 but lived in York and was only 6 years old. By 1995 I was living in London and remember the heat well but at the time perhaps didn't appreciate how extreme it was. The big surprise for me is 2006 because although the July heat was exceptional June and August weren't memorable.

More detailed data should be available later this week. In the meantime the press release from the Met Office on Friday has some more details up to the 30th of August.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/2018/end-of-summer-stats

2018 for the UK as a whole was slightly ahead of all other years as at the 30th, but only when going to two decimals. This is statistically insignificant hence why they have called it a tie.

My own data looks something like this:

2018 Jun 17.6C Jul 20.9C Aug 17.9C Summer 18.8C

2006 Jun 17.7C Jul 21.2C Aug 17.2C Summer 18.7C

2003 Jun 16.3C Jul 17.8C Aug 19.2C Summer 17.8C

1995 comes nowhere near because June was rather cool. July and August were both very warm.

I don't have any records for 1976 as I was only 1 year old at the time!

I should say that the 1995 and 2003 data come from a different location which is a cooler site. So the gap implied by the above figures is actually misleading. That said I still think 2018 is definitely the winner. Prior to this it was clear to me that 2006 was the best summer I had experienced.

So 2018 is the warmest summer I have ever recorded, just slightly ahead of 2006.

If we look at a south coast station with data back in 1976, Bournemouth Airport is a good one to look at. It is not an especially warm site due to the sandy soil which means minimums tend to be quite low. But it is the comparison between years that we are interested in.

1976 Jun 17.4C Jul 19.0C Aug 17.6C Summer 18.0C

1995 Jun 15.4C Jul 18.7C Aug 19.8C Summer 18.0C

2003 Jun 15.9C Jul 17.5C Aug 18.8C Summer 17.4C

2006 Jun 16.1C Jul 19.5C Aug 17.2C Summer 17.6C

2018 Jun 17.0C Jul 19.7C Aug 17.4C Summer 18.0C

So we can say that actually the years 1976, 1995 and 2018 are all virtually the same. If you go to 2 decimals then 2018 is just fractionally ahead with 1976 on 18.00C, 1995 on 17.97C and 2018 on 18.03C

Met Office graphic showing hottest summers. (Source: UK Met Office) 

Thanks Brian. Very interesting graphic. It is consistent with my comments above.

Bournemouth AP (Hurn) is close to the boundary between 2018 and 1976 which also ties in with the figures above. I note also that there is a small area with 1947 as the hottest summer on the Hampshire / Dorset boundary close to the south coast.

2013: Jun: 13.9C Jul: 18.8C Aug: 16.7C

2018: Jun: 16.9C Jul: 19.4C Aug: 16.5C

So 2018 completely thrashed 2013 in June and July, but 2013 held onto a slightly superior August.

If you're looking at mean temperature then 2003 had the highest here followed by 1933 and 1976.

I don't think this is a suitable indicator of heat as this includes night temperatures which are irrelevant and are higher now due to increased urbanisation and increases in unpleasant humid, muggy and cloudy airmasses. 

Looking just at day temperatures then 1976 is the winner here followed by 1933 and 2003. Surprising that 2003 just pipped 1995 into third place but the early part of June was very poor with a max of 9C on the 7th. The warmth in 2003 was more consistent but never as exceptional.

Here are the five summers with the highest mean max at Dyce:

1976: 20.0C

2003: 19.3C

1995: 19.1C

2006: 19.0C

1975/2018: 18.9C

No station existed there in 1933 but Craibstone, which is higher altitude and less sheltered, recorded 19.1C. Comparisons with the other summers suggest about 0.5C difference so this would place 1933 in clear second. 

1911 and possibly 1901 too may well have beaten 2018. I'm not sure at the moment but trying to construct a standardised temperature series back to the 19th century from all the various stations that have existed in the area.

Interesting, summer 1933, a very forgotten and rarely mentioned hot summer. You'd think with it still being the hottest summer on record in some parts of the country that it would be brought up a lot more.

Well I'm not surprised it was the joint hottest on record: it sure felt like it. 

Best summer I ever experienced in the UK, better than 1995, 2003 or 2006.

True and indeed, it turns out that 1933 was the hottest ever summer summer here in Edinburgh where I live according to that map. Of course, I wasn't even around back then so the earliest really hot summer which I can remember was 1976 although I was just a small kid back then, and can't therefore remember the deterioration on the weather which later followed during the autumn of 1976.

One thing which I did notice from the map though, is there was nowhere in the SE of England where 1933 was the hottest ever summer. That would help to explain the lack of media coverage of that particular summer (since the so-called UK media has generally and traditionally been SE England biased) and hence, the reason which it is so little known these days.

Amazing, 1911 is still featured on that map. 

They were no really outstanding high maxima up here this summer. The thing that stands out for me is the sunshine levels for that May-July period. Regionally, it was sunnier than summer 1976 by around 80hrs. 

2006 is the one that really surprises me. I don't consider it comparable at all to 1995, 2003 or 2018.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2006/14/2006_14_MaxTemp_Anomaly_1961-1990.gif 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2006/14/2006_14_Rainfall_Anomaly_1961-1990.gif 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2006/14/2006_14_Sunshine_Anomaly_1961-1990.gif 

Stats from my VP2.

2006
June 16.8C (mean), 8.2mm rain
July 20.5C, 52.8mm
August 15.7, 49.6mm

2018
June 17.8C*
July 20.8C, 10.8mm
August 17.7C, 48.6mm

*ISS developed a fault and was replaced on 22nd June. Temperature data may be inconsistent due to a shortage of reports and rainfall levels were not recorded.  

As I mentioned yesterday in one of the other summer threads, if the excellent weather we saw here in June and July had continued through all or even most of August, then summer 2018 here would have at least equalled 1995 or possibly even surpassed it. 1995 is still the one to beat for me. The poorer August unfortunately prevented it from matching 1995 and for me it tunred out to be closer in nature to 2006 and 1989; good/very good June and July but then a poorer August.

I know 2006 was one of our better summers but the hottest ever for the majority of the North West? I am surprised. 1995 is still the one to beat from my lifetime and I think 2018 is the closest we have come since. August was where our horse fell sadly but still, it was nice to have a good summer.

Yeah amazing that for a few (limited) places 1911, 1933 and 1947 are still there... 

Anecdotally, a lot of messages I'm getting on social media and in emails are fairly incredulous about this news from UKMO (I think because August went somewhat down the tubes for a lot of people from week two onwards) But I just diplomatically say it's not for me to comment and leave it there. 

For me I have 2018 on a par with 2006. 1995 is still the best Summer of my lifetime (I missed 1976 by one year) 2003 and, 1990, 1989 and 1983 all stand out as excellent Summer's as well.

My perception is that the great summer ended on July 29 - after that real soaker of a day (which unfortunately coincided with a family outing) the weather never really recovered. We did have some quite decent weather up in Yorkshire in early August, but the camping trip in Devon in mid August was very autumnal indeed, with gales and heavy rain.

The south had amazing blue skies and high temps during the first 6 days of Aug. 

It was late July when the summer became much more of a SE'ern affair. Yes, most other parts (Aberdeen excluded..) had some nice days/briefer spells after this, but the long periods of warm/hot, sunny, settled weather that had characterised May/June/July had ended for most of the UK.

Well, the mountain bike race I did in the Dales on Aug 5 was very warm and sunny, and the rest of the week was pretty good. I'm sure it was pretty hot back home.

Even in mid August it was apparently warm and sunny back home while Devon was plagued by rain and wind. Driving back it felt like entering another country: from low cloud and drizzle and 16C when we left the campsite it was sunny and 25C by the time we'd reached Somerset. Definitely a case of anywhere near the western coasts being dreadful whereas southern central areas were still basking in summer.

I am delighted to see those results. June was excellent with fabulous amounts of sunshine.

I thought though when Hadley CET figures came in that 1976 still held the top spot.