Brits given summer heatwave update following week-long extreme temperatures

The scorching temperatures in the UK have been relentless for almost an entire week now, with many people struggling to cope with the heat and humidity.

The hottest June day temperature record has been broken an unbelievable three days in a row, as a sizzling 36.9C was recorded in Wattisham, Suffolk on Friday (26 June), surpassing the high of 36.7C recorded in Merryfield, Somerset, the day before.

And while things are finally due to cool down a bit in the coming days, unfortunately, this is only the beginning when it comes to heatwaves.

Thanks to climate change and global warming, scientists have estimated that our summers are only going to get hotter and drier.

Kirsty McCabe, Editor of the MetMatters site at the Royal Meteorological Society and broadcast meteorologist, told Tyla: “Attribution studies have found that temperatures of 32C in June in South East England have been made about 100 times more likely by climate change.”

Experts have warned that this could be the first of many extreme heatwaves (Getty Stock Image)

The expert warned: “The chance of exceeding 40°C has been rapidly increasing, and it is now over 20 times more likely than it was in the 1960s. As our climate continues to warm, we can expect the risk to keep rising.”

Realising that intense heatwaves could become a new normal, one X user wrote: “This is only the June Heatwave… we still have July and August.”

While a second added, “If July and August have another heatwave this bad, I'm going to book a hotel room with aircon. I don't care anymore.”

A three-month outlook released by the Met Office outlines that, unfortunately, hot conditions are more likely than usual for the UK overall, as well as an increased chance of heatwave conditions developing.

However, it’s important to note that the three-month outlooks are not definite forecasts, but probabilities of what the summer could look like.

Thankfully, the data also shows that near-average conditions are still just about the most likely outcome (55%).

The Met Office's three-month outlook for summer (Met Office)

Experts at the Met Office said: “This does not diminish the point that we have a more than usual chance of a hot summer, but does put it in context.

“The shift in likelihood towards of hot conditions is consistent with the long‑term trend of rising UK temperatures linked to global climate change, meaning what we consider ‘average’ is gradually shifting over time.”

McCabe agreed that our future summers are set to become hotter and drier.

She explained: “That doesn't mean every summer will be hot, as there will still be some cooler years due to natural variability. But if the world continues to warm, we will continue to see hotter, longer, and more frequent heatwaves.”

The meteorologist added, “Climate change is already happening. Extreme weather and heatwaves are already happening. We can't reset our climate, but we can take action to stop the worst-case scenarios from becoming a reality.

“We need to learn to adapt to extreme weather and take better care of our planet.”