The comments have already started lol. 

Earlier today on Twitter I had the lambast someone who was using a newspaper article from 1976 quoting the temperature on centre court in Wimbledon as to the reason it was hotter then.

They are obsessed with 1976. We almost need a heatwave of that length to shut these people up once and for all.

Friday 3rd August and I was on a Scout camp by the River Wye, not that far from Cheltenham where that temp was recorded. One issue - there was very little water in the river so we could only paddle! 

The last four days are all in the top 20 CET days ever recorded, with today likely to be second after 19th July 2022 and yesterday 6th.

The top 4 days have all been since 2019!

Although this has been a very hot historic week it hasn't been the "big one" I think 3 weeks of high 30s low 40s is possible maybe that would stop the 76 bollox.

However, I ventured out into the back garden a few minutes ago to see what it was like and it's still 36C with the westerly breeze feeling brutally hot - a very unusual sensation with the wind from that direction!

Absolutely. 

However I strongly suspect that the people making comments about 1976 are either bots, deliberately on the wind up or relative nut jobs. I've yet to meet anyone in real life who genuinely believes it was hotter back in 76 and that climate change is all a myth etc. 

I've met some who think it's not because of humans and plenty with opinions on how we should - or shouldn't tackle it; but that's a different thing.

What I don't understand is that they are happy to quote any and all temperature records from the past, however spurious, but think that all modern records "don't count" because they are on airfields or from "junk weather stations". I am sure if Mayflower Park was still around today it would be the subject of length blog posts about how crap it is.

36C here still. Like you, it seems, we have a wall of heat coming from the west.

John

Exactly. They also can’t grasp that many of these stations go back hundreds of years. There is a guy on Twitter that is going around calling all stations junk. It’s annoying me. 

Also, when I was looking at the top ten hottest days, I also looked at the top ten coldest, it was genuinely sad how old some of those records were and we may never see them broken again in our lifetimes.

I think I know who you mean, and if we got rid of all the records he calls junk then the past would be even more dramatically colder than today!

Just looking to see if there are any manual stations that could have gone higher today. East Bergholt coincidentally was the actual highest on the day it supposedly hit 40C at Wimbledon in 1976. If that is still going it might be worth a look.

Likewise Denver and especially Lingwood - although that is another like Brogdale that seems dormant since March.

East Bergholt seems to be another one that has quietly vanished from the network. Felsham might be the best bet for a high temperature today and is at least still reporting this month, albeit several days behind.

This is the current network https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-synoptic-and-climate-stations

There are apparently a few omitted - see comment on the Web page.

Edit: August first.

I mean some parts of the s/w had no rain whatsoever for 45 days so extreme after an extremely dry year before.

In fact a severe drought act was passed by parliament to ration water with use of local stand pipes the only source.

I think 76 remains special when compared to modern hot summers because imo only guys

1 exceptional heat ok that will be matched and beaten

2 extraordinary duration, nothing close so far to 76

3 severe drought nothing either matched to 76

4 as heat continued devastating wild forest fires broke out in England some 50 thousand trees lost in Devon alone

500 million of crops failed put that in real terms a 12 per cent increase in food prices.

The lasting effects of 76 still present as far forward to 2013 with massive changes to scrub and graze and damage still evident on many trees

1. Correct

2. Depends what you mean for duration- last year's whole summer beat 1976. The June-July heatwave was original, granted, in consecutive days > 30 or 32 and that will go, you'll see.

3. Drought and heatwave may be related, but are not necessarily fully interdependent. Our grass is greener than 2022, with no watering, yet we have these records. This is after all, a heatwave thread.

4. Idiot behaviour, poor forest management and other factors lead to fires. I stood in my local stamping grounds watching fire literally emerge from the peaty ground in 76, and it was, granted, horrific. Significant wildlife including large numbers of Dartford Warbler pairs were wiped out from their gorse homes and even at my age then I was in tears. But that doesn't make the year more exceptional.

5. I know- an addition. Third consecutive warmest spring on record, possibly yet another warmest June on record (3 out of 4- warmer than 76, and bearing in mind yes a great August akin to 1997 but otherwise summer 76 was really down to that infamous 2 week spell June-July)

I have nostalgically mused over 1976 for years, (actually decades) until the last few. I bought the book by Evelyn Cox. At the time, it was unprecedented. I don't doubt as Rob has said that if Mayflower Park were still going, we'd have seen something at least as spectacular on Thursday (almost did). And if the 76 set-up had occurred in today's greenhouse, who knows what might have happened? But we can't keep it a shrine forever. 40+ in 2022 is the new fear, I fear.

But the problem is these social media memes have an effect. They sow just enough doubt, just enough, even if readers suspect they're bots or ideologues. So it's important to rebut them strongly and publicly, not to convince them but to help the wavering 99% of readers who are not weather geeks.

I was actually looking at the UK summary maps each day on Roost Weather and it’s notable that the heat was by no means nationwide. Unfortunately I clicked through too many days and am now locked out of the site temporarily!

Was talking to my own mother yesterday and she said this spell was nothing compared to 1976 (she was in the UK at the time also). Which I think is fair enough in a sense, but I really doubt temps reached near 40c in '76 and I really doubt the humidty and dewpoints were nearly as godawful high as during this current spell. 

I don’t understand why people are so quick to engage with them. Perhaps my perspective is different from that of many others, because for me, it would be both a waste of time and have no value. My view is that the best approach is simply to present the evidence and data, and leave it at that.

I do take your comments on board Bert I don’t cover 76 in a protective shrine perhaps it was hard times.

Bit what made the  76 heatwave even more impactful imo  was that it coincided with a 16- month-long drought. Very little rain had fallen since May 1975 meaning water resources were already seriously depleted and the ground devoid of moisture even before the heat ramped up.

In fact summer 75 had seriously deleted cereal crops before the heat wave.

We were hungry potatoes were scarce my parents as were millions  forced to queue at standpipes in the street just for basic water supplies.

Not fun

As for idiots and fires yes they happen in every decade when the opportunities arise.

As you say if something happened like this with modern summers it doesn’t bare thinking about.

An even more incredible rise at Donna Nook, from 24.8 at 6pm (the highest of the day) to 33.4 at 7pm. I seem to remember something very similar happened at that station in the an earlier heatwave, maybe 2019?

In other news, it looks like there was no Herstmonceux radiosonde at midday today - the exact time most likely to set a record!

I assume as we have broken the May record that this thread will go into the Archives?

Yes, but perhaps give it a little longer before archiving.