The top 10 hottest days in the UK ever recorded - revealed

We are lucky in our part of the world in that coastal areas are generally cooler, and many of us have the option of taking a dip in the sea if things get uncomfortably warm.

Even so, we are staring down the barrel of some hot and sticky days. The East of England is one of several regions to be given an extreme high temperature warning.

Megan cools off in the sea at Felixstowe. (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

Beck and her son Jenson enjoy a cooling dip in the sea. (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

As we ready ourselves with fans and ice lollies, we are taking a look back at UK’s top 10 hottest days that have ever been recorded by the Met Office.

10. Kew Gardens and Heathrow, London, August 7, 2020 – 36.4C

We were still in the first few months of living with the coronavirus on this scorcher, and with many people furloughed and all of us socially isolating, this was a day which saw many people working from home in their gardens.

The forecast for this Thursday across the country. (Image: Met Office)

9 . Wisley, Surrey, July 19, 2006 – 36.5C

This was the month when our country was gripped by a European heatwave, with the hot weather arriving at the end of June. Wisley broke the UK’s previous July record by 0.5C, which was recorded in 1911.

8. Worcester, Worcestershire, August 2, 1990 – 36.6C

This was briefly the hottest day of the year in 1990 - before being beaten the very next day (keep reading to number five of this list).

7. Raunds, Northamptonshire, August 9, 1911 – 36.7C

This was one year before the Titanic set sail, three years before WWI was declared. For women, fortunately fashion was moving away from corsets, but hemlines were still long.

Douglas and Pauline Copeland relax in the sun at the seaside in Felixstowe. (Image: Newsquest)

Natalie, Amelia and Nick Hopkins make the most of the hot weather in Southwold. (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

6. Heathrow, London, July 1, 2015 – 36.7C

This was the month when roads were melting, and strikes at Calais meant that truck drivers were stuck in huge tailbacks on the M20.

5. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, August 3, 1990 – 37.1C

This was the year that Margaret Thatcher was replaced by John Major, after over 10 years as Prime Minister. Just a few weeks previously, the Carlton Club in London had been bombed by the IRA, killing one person and injuring 20.

4. Heathrow, London, July 31, 2020 – 37.8C

Again, we were in the midst of the pandemic, during those first few months when many of us dared hope lockdown would have ended by Christmas.

3. Faversham, Kent, August 10, 2003 – 38.5C

For just shy of 16 years, this remained the hottest day on record. This was the year when police started using tasers for the first time.

Friends Gemma Sims and Wendy Cracknal enjoy an ice cream on the beach in Felixstowe. (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

Leo Wright, three, enjoying the water sprays at Waterloo Park in Norwich. (Image: DENISE BRADLEY)

2. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, July 25, 2019 – 38.7C

Our neighbouring city Cambridge held the medal for the UK’s hottest day on record for three years. The Cambridge University Botanic Garden reached an incredible 38.7C, with staff saying they felt “as if we’d melted.”

1. Coningsby, Lincolnshire, July 19, 2022 – 40.3C

Many of us will remember this unbearably hot summer. This was the year that finally pushed us over 40C.

This meant that the UK had reached a sizzling heat above the hottest days recorded by several other counties, including Puerto Rico (40C, 1996), Malaysia (40.1C, 1998) and Uganda (40C, 2005).