UK heatwave: June 2023 was hottest ‘since weather records began’, Met Office confirm

The UK has just endured the hottest June since weather records began, the Met Office has confirmed. The average monthly temperature of 15.8C in June 2023 beat the previous highest average June temperature, recorded in 1940 and 1976, by 0.9C.

Records were broken in 72 of 97 areas in the UK from where temperature data is collected. Scientists said climate change made the chances of surpassing the previous joint record at least “twice as likely”.

The Met Office’s Mark McCarthy said: “It’s officially the hottest June on record for the UK, for mean temperature as well as average maximum and minimum temperature.”

Paul Davies, Met Office Climate Extremes Principal fellow and chief meteorologist, told BBC News: “An increase of 0.9C may not seem a huge amount, but it’s really significant because it has taken the average daytime and the night time temperature for the whole of the UK. That’s significant in a warming climate and because of the consequential impacts on society.”

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each recorded their warmest June since the Met Office started collecting the data in 1884 - as well as the overall UK June record. The UK also saw just 68 per cent of the average June rainfall.

Mr Davies added: “We found that the chance of observing a June beating the previous joint 1940/1976 record of 14.9°C has at least doubled since the 1940s. Alongside natural variability, the background warming of the Earth’s atmosphere due to human-induced climate change has driven up the possibility of reaching record-high temperatures.”

The world has warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial revolution in the early 1800s. Last year the UK recorded temperatures above 40C for the first time - something that scientists said would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change.