Jesus, the amount of people on social media comparing Summer 1976 and this recent exceptional hot spell and treating it like there is some kind of hidden agenda just makes me despair for mankind. Both Summers will be remembered but for different reasons, nothing more nothing less.

Horses for courses and all that as attitudes changes as we go into the internet era and we look back at the past with rose tinted lens.

Originally Posted by: idj20 

Jesus, the amount of people on social media comparing Summer 1976 and this recent exceptional hot spell and treating it like there is some kind of hidden agenda just makes me despair for mankind. Both Summers will be remembered but for different reasons, nothing more nothing less.

Horses for courses and all that as attitudes changes as we go into the internet era and we look back at the past with rose tinted lens.

Originally Posted by: idj20 

OK I think this is the final list of all the (non-manual) stations that matched or broke the old record, now updated to include the manual readings. I make it 44, or 43 if you discount Waddington.

Coningsby 40.3C
Waddington 40.3C (discounted by Met Office due to non-standard exposure)
Heathrow 40.2C
St James's Park 40.2C
Gringley on the Hill 40.1C
Kew Gardens 40.1C
Cranwell 40.0C
Northolt 40.0C
Cambridge Botanic Garden 39.9C
Cambridge NIAB 39.9C
Charlwood 39.9C
Cranwell 39.9C
Scampton 39.9C
Wittering 39.9C
Bramham 39.8C
Monks Wood 39.8C
Nottingham WC 39.8C
Battersea Heliport 39.6C
Teddington Bushy Park 39.6C
Topcliffe 39.6C
Woburn 39.6C
Bedford 39.5C
Normanby Hall 39.5C
Sheffield 39.4C
Sutton Bonington 39.4C
Wisley 39.3C
Chertsey Abbey Mead 39.2C
Marham 39.2C
Holbeach 39.1C
Ryhill 39.1C
Writtle 39.1C
Brogdale 39.0C
Mildenhall 39.0C (highest hourly reading)
Santon Downham 39.0C
High Beach 38.9C
Wellesbourne 38.9C
Coleshill 38.8C
Iver Waterworks 38.8C
Leeming 38.8C
Benson 38.7C
Church Lawford 38.7C
Coventry 38.7C
Houghton Hall 38.7C
Stowe 38.7C

There are also two airports that recorded 40C METARs (the 39C METARs could have been below 38.7)

Humberside 40C (rounded)
Doncaster 40C (rounded)

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

I have just updated this list to include the manual stations.

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

Jesus, the amount of people on social media comparing Summer 1976 and this recent exceptional hot spell and treating it like there is some kind of hidden agenda just makes me despair for mankind. Both Summers will be remembered but for different reasons, nothing more nothing less.

Horses for courses and all that as attitudes changes as we go into the internet era and we look back at the past with rose tinted lens.

Originally Posted by: idj20 

It upsets me because they are also ruining the legacy of summer 1976. Rather than it being remembered as simply a great summer, it is now getting connotations of climate change denial and conspiracy theories to it's name, which I find very sad. I fear that we will soon get to a point where it will be uncomfortable even mentioning that summer.

As you say, both events are memorable and extraordinary for different reasons. Summer 1976 for being a long, hot summer and the recent spell for being a short, but intense heat spike that smashed records all over the country. Can we just leave it at that, rather than it being all these "we survived then" nonsense?

It would be like someone ruining the legacy of December 2010 with conspiracy theories. It's very saddening from a weather enthusiast point of view.

Originally Posted by: Bolty 

Before closing this thread which furthest station up north that reached 100F

Originally Posted by: Jiries 

I have just updated this list to include the manual stations.

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

Seem Birmingham not reached 38C 100F? as there not on the list, nearest to me is Coleshill than Coventry which my app Nuneaton briefly reached 39C 

Originally Posted by: Jiries 

Birmingham airport reached 37C and Winterbourne 37.4. Coleshill was the nearest to break 38 but didn't beat the old record, which was my cutoff for that list.

Incidentally, I have found a link to one of the other mystery manual stations, Denver Complex near Downham Market. It looks like they may only upload their data once a month as there are only figures up to 1 July!

https://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/observations/details/2022062911z6yt85qee63pqxyyb96scn7a

So there's a very very outside chance we might have another challenger.

A better placed manual station appears on the Met Office list, Tetford near Horncastle in Lincs, but there is no sign of it on WOW.

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

Does anyone know what the CET was for yesterday? It must've smashed the record.

Originally Posted by: scillydave 

28.1C mean, so almost 3C above the old record of 25.3C from July 2019)

37.3C max (pre-2022 record was 34.2C, although July 18 was 34.8C)

18.9C minimum, second highest on record (record is 19.5C in July 2016)

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

Wow - that's extraordinary.  I don't think that will be beaten for some considerable time.

Thanks for the info Rob

Originally Posted by: scillydave 

It's pretty amazing really. The average CET maximum would have been a new UK temperature record before 2003. Never mind 40C being reached, I think this is the most incredible stat of the day. Just shows the enormous extent of the heat.

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

 Yes!  I think it was the extent of the heat that made this so remarkable and is what it should be remembered for, because previous records have been quite localised.

Originally Posted by: Caz 

This is very true but let's not forget that the overall record was broken by a massive 1.6C. Now for a reliable record of around 150 years that's a huge jump. In an essentially stable climate in that time period we should surely only be expecting records in mere increments, a tenth of a degree here, a couple of tenths there and even then only ocurring every few decades.This is even bigger than the jump between 1990 and 2003 which was in itself was a remarkable 1.4C. Amazing to think that prior to 1990 we hadn't even hit 37C.

Originally Posted by: Col