Some may still remember the infamous summer of 1976, when for 24 days the UK baked in temperatures exceeding 30C, harvests failed and food prices soared. The summer of 2026 has already surpassed that record number of days exceeding temperatures of 30C from 50 years ago. What was once something of a rarity that might occur once in a generation has now become a regular event. Temperatures for 2015-2024 have been on average 1.2C warmer than the 1961-1990 average, and in 2022 the UK first recorded an instance of 40C.

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Some may still remember the infamous summer of 1976, when for 24 days the UK baked in temperatures exceeding 30C, harvests failed and food prices soared. The summer of 2026 has already surpassed that record number of days exceeding temperatures of 30C from 50 years ago. What was once something of a rarity that might occur once in a generation has now become a regular event.

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