22*C from Aug 2003 is the highest I'm aware of, I thought there might have been a briefly higher spike in 1990 but didn't find one.
For anyone with time to spare, it might be worth checking out July 1983 as that was an exceptionally hot month but I'm not sure how much it was locally driven versus plume-driven.
Fact is, such a huge and direct draw of hot air from Africa is extremely rare, let alone with temps in the source region unusually high at the time of export, and with all this happening in June.
Honestly, I think this is the most prominently 'climate change enabled' event Europe has seen to date. Arctic sea ice loss and amplified warming not is only slowing the jet stream but allowing the seasonal heat build to begin sooner, aligning peak heat with the longest days and strongest sun more than we used to see.
Couple that with higher overall available heat and this seemingly rule-breaking European heatwave starts to make a horrible sort of sense.
Lowest 850s in July, sorry I've little clue at this time!
Indeed I haven't found anything that even gets close to the 850s we will see tommorow.
Although this bubble of 20C in July 1983 might well be a record for Ireland!
Really quite convinced that both the 24-26C in the SW tommorow/Friday is the highest 850hpa temp on record for the UK but will do a more detailed look through the analysis charts. Also if the -5C for Shetland verifies I'm sure that's a record too. In my searches for July snow its hard enough to even find 0C getting to the UK in July. I suspect -5C may have happened once or twice in August but never July.
Twitter: @QuantumOverlord (general), @MedicaneWatch (medicane/TC stuff)
2023/2024 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
29/11 (-6), 30/11 (-6), 02/12 (-5), 03/12 (-5), 04/12 (-3), 16/01 (-3), 18/01 (-8), 08/02 (-5)
Total: 8 days with snow/sleet falling.
2022/2023 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
18/12 (-1), 06/03 (-6), 08/03 (-8), 09/03 (-6), 10/03 (-8), 11/03 (-5), 14/03 (-6)
Total: 7 days with snow/sleet falling.
2021/2022 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
26/11 (-5), 27/11 (-7), 28/11 (-6), 02/12 (-6), 06/01 (-5), 07/01 (-6), 06/02 (-5), 19/02 (-5), 24/02 (-7), 30/03 (-7), 31/03 (-8), 01/04 (-8)
Total: 12 days with snow/sleet falling.