It's a hot one! May's heatwave sees England and Wales have their warmest spring on record

By RICHARD MARSDEN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 16:48, 1 June 2026 | Updated: 16:53, 1 June 2026 The sizzling heatwave at the end of May has earned the whole of this spring a place in the history books – after it was declared the warmest in England and Wales since records began. This year’s spring season had the highest mean temperature in England and Wales and the third highest-ever for the UK as a whole, according to provisional statistics. There were six consecutive days above 30°C (86F) in some areas, with the highest temperature of 35.1C (95.2F) at Kew Gardens, West London, last Tuesday. England’s mean spring temperature of 10.41°C (50.7F) surpassed last year’s record of 10.23°C (50.4F), meaning the three warmest springs on record now stand as 2026, 2025 and 2024. Nine of the ten warmest springs since records began in 1884 have now occurred since 2007. Meteorological Office Scientist Dr Emily Carlisle said: ‘All three months of meteorological spring recorded mean temperatures within the UK’s top ten warmest on record. ‘While we expect fluctuations from year to year, this spring shows some of the changes we're seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions becoming more frequent. ‘The fact that nine of the ten warmest springs in England have occurred since 2007 illustrates this ongoing shift in the UK’s climate.’ Huge crowds on Bournemouth beach enjoying the heat over the late May bank holiday Earlier in spring, it was the joint tenth warmest March and seventh warmest April for the UK as a whole. While overall UK rainfall figures showed spring precipitation 14pc below average, there was a north-south divide with southern England having half its normal rainfall while northern areas had 90pc of average levels. Some eastern and southeastern counties – Suffolk, Kent and Essex – had a third of usual rain. Helen Wakeham, Environment Agency Director of Water and Chair of the National Drought Group, said: ‘No parts of England are currently in drought, but the risk increases the longer it remains hot and dry.’ Soil moisture remained low in many fields and last week’s heatwave also increased the stress for crops, with visible leaf rolling in wheat crops. Scotland was the only UK nation to finish spring wetter than average But despite this year’s high temperatures in England and Wales, spring 2025 had more hours of sunshine and the warmest temperatures for the UK as a whole. England had 229 hours of sunshine this spring, double the 115-hour average since the 1980s. Warm temperatures in April saw people enjoy the flowers amid bright sunshine on Victoria Embankment, central London Showers replaced searing heat today as cooler and fresher air moved in. Met Office chief forecaster Chris Bulmer said: 'We're now starting to see this spell of very hot weather break down. Open-water swimming during the hot weather led to at least 15 deaths around the country. Tragedies included a 15-year-old girl who died in hospital on Saturday after she got into difficulties while swimming at Formby beach on Merseyside on Bank Holiday Monday. Hot weather also saw drinking water supplies affected for 15,500 people in Kent, in the Coxheath, Loose, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Benenden and Kemsing areas. Further heavy showers and thunder is expected tomorrow across the south and east, with gusty winds followed by dry and sunny weather moving in from the west. Temperatures are set to reach a maximum of 21C (70F) in the south but just 16C (59F) in Cumbria. More showers and longer spells of rain are forecast for the rest of the week but with some sunnier spells in between. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.