diamond geezer

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Every year I update my table of thirty-plus temperatures, as recorded at Hampstead.
Here's how we left things last year.

Dates on which the temperature at Hampstead reached 30°C

	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
2010		27	9/10
2011		27
2012			25	18
2013			13  15/16/17  22	1
2014			18
2015			1	22
2016			18/19/20	24	13
2017		17/18/19/20/21	6
2018			5/6/7/8 15 23  25/26/27	2/3  6/7
2019		29	23/24/25	25/26/27
2020		24/25/26	31	7/8/9/10/11/12
2021			18/19/20
2022		17	11/12  17/18/19	11/12/13/14
2023		11  25			6/7  9/10
2024			19  30	12
2025		19  21  28/29/30	1  10/11/12  18	11/12

» in red: reached 33°C
» in red & bold: reached 35°C
» in red & bold & underlined: reached 37°C

And here's what 2026 looks like so far...

	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
2026	23/24/25/26  28  30	19  23/24/25/26/27	6/7/8/9/10  29	tbc	tbc

That is a fairly astonishing start to the summer, and there's still August and September to go.

• Hampstead's never had temperatures above 30°C in May before. This year it had six days.
• So far this year eighteen days have had a temperature above 30°C. The previous maximum was thirteen.
• So far eight days have had a temperature above 33°C. The previous maximum was five.
• So far three days have had a temperature above 35°C. The previous maximum was two.

What's more the temperature at Hampstead nearly reached 30°C on several further occasions, but I can't count that.
It did reach 30°C at Heathrow, which isn't at such an elevated location, but I can't count that either.

Amazingly Heathrow has hit 30°C on

25 days so far this year.
For perspective, in whole of the 1980s there were only 21 such days.
Now that's climate change.

What I have done is update my table to show all the dates with a temperature of

29°C or above.
Any recorded maximum of 'twenty-nine point something' is shown as a dot.
I've only included May, June and July.

Dates on which the temperature at Hampstead reached 29°C

	May	Jun	Jul
2010	.	27.	9/10
2011		.27	.
2012			25
2013			13  15/16/17  22
2014			18
2015		.	1
2016			18/19/20
2017		17/18/19/20/21	6.
2018		.	. 5/6/7/8 15 23.25/26/27
2019		29	23/24/25
2020		24/25/26	.31
2021			18/19/20.
2022		.17	11/12  17/18/19
2023		.11  25	.
2024		.	19  30
2025		19.21  28/29/30	1  10/11/12  18
2026	23/24/25/26 28 30	19  . 23/24/25/26/27	.6/7/8/9/10.. . .. .29

» small dot: reached 29°C
» in red: reached 33°C
» in red & bold: reached 35°C
» in red & bold & underlined: reached 37°C

There were only 15 twenty-nine-point something days from 2010-2025.
This month has had seven.

Previously the year with the most days above 29°C was 2018, with 12 days.
So far 2026 has had 26. That's just dotty.

Hampstead's also recorded zero rainfall so far this month, with no rain on the way.
July is baked in to be the first month ever to record zero rainfall.
But the drought is another story...

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