UK braces for fifth heatwave as drought risk spreads

The Met Office forecasts temperatures in south-east England will top 30C from Sunday and climb to 35C by the middle of next week as Britain heads toward its fifth widespread heatwave of the year. Monday is expected to be cooler than the weekend before the heat builds again, and yellow heat health alerts already cover most of England.

The Met Office recorded July 2026 as the driest July for England and Wales since records began 190 years ago, with England recording just 6.5mm of rain and Wales 9.3mm. Southern England also had its driest month ever in a rainfall series dating back to 1836, while some weather stations in central and south-east England have already broken their previous longest spells without rain. Central England went 15 days without measurable rain, the longest dry spell there since June 1996.

BBC Weather expects drought to be declared across more of the UK this week, and the Environment Agency expects several areas could move towards or into drought next week. The National Drought Group had already identified parts of southern, central and eastern England as close to drought after the third heatwave, with areas including East Anglia, the West Midlands, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and London, Wessex, Thames, Solent and the South Downs in prolonged dry weather, the stage before drought.

The Met Office's long-range forecast calls for a north-to-south split, with rain or showers more likely in the north while the south stays predominantly dry, sunny and hot before the heat eases somewhat into next weekend.