Author: Eric Gilbert

Tuesday 30th June
The cooler westerly breeze, combined with variable cloud, meant a cooler day on Monday, in fact, with a maximum of 21.2C, which was only 0.4C above average, it was the coolest day since the 12th June. The overnight minimum of 13.9C, logged at 05.01 early Tuesday just after sunrise in Marlborough at 04.54, was 3.7C above average.

Tuesday began with variable cloud that will increase during the day as the forecast surface charts indicate a warm front will cross the country, probably around midday. A low pressure system centred over Northern Ireland is responsible for the weather front.

The next few days will see the Azores high push a minor ridge across the country tomorrow and before low pressure tries to reassert itself on Thursday with a cold front crossing in the morning. However, both the Tuesday and Thursday weather fronts are not expected to produce any precipitation.

The forecast pressure chart for Saturday indicates that the Azores high will begin to build and its centre to edge closer to the UK, just off the Brest peninsula. Meteorologists have considerable confidence that this anticyclone will dominant our weather throughout next week that will see temperatures rise well above average for early July and likely produce another heatwave. Meteorological opinions are mixed at the moment as to whether maximum temperatures next week might surpass the extremes of last week. Lets hope not!

This evening the full moon will rise low above the horizon, as it did last night, marking the appearance of the Strawberry Moon, the first full moon of summer. The name comes from Native American tribes, who used this full moon to mark the wild strawberry harvest.

Monday 29th June
There was a distinct change in the weather on Sunday as two cold weather fronts crossed the area, the first produced light drizzle for about five minutes at 09.10, but insufficient to be measurable. The associated cloud and cooler air behind the fronts meant that the maximum of 23.9C at 14.33, was only 3.1C above average making it the lowest high since the 20th, which brought the recent heatwave to a close that lasted for seven days.

Unfortunately, the Daily Statistics page under the ‘This Month’ tab, did not automatically save yesterday for some unknown reason, not the first time.

There was a hesitant start to Monday due to variable cloud, even so, the thermometer had recovered to 15.1C by 08.00, which made it the coolest start to a new day at that time since the 15th. A depression is closing in on the UK, towards Scotland, that will mean much more cloud today and comfortable temperatures by day and night. The barometric pressure read 1026.7mb at 08.00, and was rising steadily, almost equalling the peak on the 22nd as the heatwave built.

There is going to be a little tussle between the opposing pressure systems over the next few days before it looks likely the Azores high might become a significant feature from next weekend with another possible heatwave arriving. At the moment the BBC weather forecast indicates that Sunday the 5th will see the heatwave threshold of 27C arrive and lasting for the following week, however, the Met Office at the moment suggest a maximum of 24C on the 5th and have no forecast for the following week. There does seem to be a rise in confidence that the week following Sunday 5th will be very hot as the forecast surface charts indicate that the Azores high will build significantly across the country that will result in many hours of sunny, very hot weather.

I have analysed my records to extract the number of days when 30C or above was recorded, which is 3C above the heat threshold for Wiltshire of 27C. Looking at the data since 2011 and subdividing it into five year periods I find a rising trend in the very hot days. From 2011 to 2015 there were just 5 days that reached 30C or above, 2016-2020 there 19 days when 30C or above was recorded whilst the years 2021-2025 produced 30 days with 30C or above. This year we have already endured 10 days at 30C or above and we are only at the beginning of the summer season.

I attach a recent meteorological article on the possibility of another heatwave arriving next week.

The UK is set to be hit with another “heat dome” in mid-July causing more extreme weather across western Europe, experts have said.

The current heatwave, which saw Britain’s highest recorded temperature in June on record, came to an end on Sunday but forecasters are predicting a repeat of similar conditions next month.

According to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the Azores High, a semi-permanent high-pressure system situated over the North Atlantic, is expected to become “displaced” and therefore become centred over northern France and southern Britain instead.

As a result, another burst of intense heat is set to be created over Spain and Portugal before moving further north, creating temperatures far higher than average.

Sunday 28th June
Although the maximum on Saturday of 29.2C it was down 3C on the Friday peak also 5C down on the Thursday peak. The high was 8.4C above my long-term average and still above the heatwave threshold of 27C. Although the UV strength has been High this past week, yesterday it rose at its peak to Very High. The minimum of 16.6C at 02.51 early on Sunday meant another very warm night but thankfully, not a Tropical night, being just 6.4C above average.

I noted the heat index yesterday at 14.30 was significant, as it has been all week, with a radiation shielded thermometer indicating the air temperature was 29.0C whist outside on a person it felt more like 37.6C.

Sunday arrived with variable sunshine through breaks in the cloud that had lifted the temperature to 19.8C by 08.00. A significant feature in our weather today will be the passage of two weather fronts, both cold fronts, that will usher in behind them a cooler air stream that will result in the breeze backing from southwest this morning to west this afternoon and tomorrow. The result will be maxima and minima over the next few days likely to be just above average for late June.

The advancing low pressure system is now centred between Scotland and Iceland that has brought the change in our weather pattern and associated weather fronts. A series on low pressure systems are shown on the forecast pressure charts arriving over the next few days continuing the pattern of sunshine between variable cloud although the Azores High is all the time just to the southwest that will mean minimal risk of organised rainfall.

The picture today is from the Japanese Garden at Compton Acres, near Poole, from where the selection of images has been all week and will be for the coming week.

Simon King, Lead Weather Presenter and Sarah Keith-Lucas, Lead Weather Presenter
27 June 2026, 04:16 BST|

Over the last two months the UK has experienced two heatwaves, which have shattered significant, long-standing temperature records.

This hasn’t happened since 1911.

And we’re still relatively early in the summer with our hottest weather normally coming in late July and into August.

While the current June heatwave will gradually come to an end over the weekend, with a return to more average conditions next week, there are already indications that we could see more heatwaves this summer.

It has been a bit of a weather rollercoaster since May when a large area of high pressure – known as a ‘heat dome – sat across the UK bringing dry, sunny and very warm weather. A new May record temperature of 35.1C was set in Kew Gardens, London.

Saturday 27th June
Friday was another very hot day, but as suggested yesterday morning, it did not quite reach the peak of previous days, in fact, with a maximum of 33.3C it was the lowest high since Monday even though it was 12.5C above average. There was a significant change in wind directions as the day progressed, to come from a more westerly quarter, indicating that the change was beginning. The minimum of 15.6C at 05.38 early Saturday, before sunrise in Marlborough at 04.52, was only 5.4C above average that made it the coolest night since the 21st when the heatwave began.

Saturday began with variable sunshine that had lifted the temperature to 22.2C by 08.00, making it the coolest start to a day since Monday. Cloud is likely to build after around midday as Atlantic depressions are edging closer. Even so, the maximum will still be well above average but perhaps 6C below the highs of the past week.

The data underlines why we have been under a Red heat warning. At 16.30 yesterday, although a radiation shielded thermometer indicated an air temperature of 32.3C in fact outside it felt more like 39.4C when taking into accept air temperature, humidity, wind and solar radiation. At a much earlier time in the afternoon the difference would have been even greater.

The high pressure is being reluctant to depart having risen 5mb since yesterday with a reading of 1018.1mb at 08.00. However, the forecast surface charts indicate that on Sunday we will became more under the influence of low pressure to the west, edging in from the Atlantic, that will throw the first weather across the country for over a week, on Sunday. As it is a cold weather front, the result will be a much cooler day with the maximum close to the June average, likewise the minimum overnight, so much more comfortable. It is only after the cold front passes through on Sunday morning that the distinctly cooler air arrives. The weather front will carry with it cloud that will obviously limit sunshine after the wall to wall sunshine of the past week.

Looking forward, the forecast surface pressure charts indicate that although the Azores high will try and push a ridge of higher pressure across the country on Monday, the coming week will see weather predominantly from the Atlantic on a southwesterly or westerly air steam with variable sunshine and little indication of any rain at the moment, also temperatures around or just above the June average.

The Met Office has issued its long range weather forecast for July, offering insight as to whether another heatwave will grip the UK.

• It comes after the record for the hottest June day was broken on three consecutive days, with temperatures reaching 36.9C in Wattisham, Suffolk on Friday.

• According to the agency, temperatures during the period of 11 to 25 July are “likely to be above normal on the whole, with a greater than normal chance of hot conditions developing at times.”

• It adds that there is potential for “changeable or more unsettled conditions developing later in the period, with a risk of some heavy and thundery showers.”

• Scientists have warned that the UK may well see temperatures of up to 45C in the near future, with Dr Eunice Lo, Senior Research Fellow in Climate Change and Health at the University of Bristol Cabot Institute for the Environment, adding: “We must adapt to hot weather now, as it is going to increase in intensity and frequency due to climate change.”

Friday 26th June
Once again on Thursday, the blazing sun pushed the temperature to another record to reach a high of 34.9C at 16.04, which was a significant 14.1C above my long-term average. Likewise the overnight minimum of 21.7C broke the record being 11.5C above average and again referred to as a Tropical Night, the second this week, as the minimum was in excess of 20C.

Friday arrived with the sun a little muted at first due to cloud on the eastern horizon, but by 06.00 was shining strongly that resulted in a temperature of 26.3C by 08.00, which was already 5.5C above the average June maximum. The breeze today will veer into the west before backing into the south tomorrow and by Sunday likely to come from the southwest. These are significant indications of a major change in our weather as this will mean a return to an Atlantic weather pattern with lower temperatures by day and night also more cloud.

Tonight, thankfully, will be a little more comfortable as the minimum temperature will be several degrees below those of recent nights although still humid.

There will be two more days when the temperature will exceed the heatwave threshold of 27C, however, the high today will likely be slightly lower than yesterday, although it probably won’t feel like it, and a little lower again on Saturday, however, by Sunday temperatures will have returned to near normal for June.

It is interesting to see how the past few days have seen not only a steady rise in temperatures but its effect on the land. The soil temperature measured at a depth of 5cm, read daily at 08.00, over the last five days has been 22.9C, 23.3C, 25.6C, 25.8C and 26.9C today. I noted that the ‘heat factor’ yesterday at 17.00 meant that although the temperature was 34.6C on a radiation shielded thermometer, it felt more like 42.7C outside.

The equivalent loss of rainfall, due to evaporation into the atmosphere from the ground and plant life, has been 5.1mm, 5.4mm, 5.5mm, 5.9mm and 6.1mm respectively over the last five days. The monthly rainfall total is 66.8mm, being 110% of my 42-year record, set against the monthly loss due to evaporation of 92.9mm.

Thunderstorms have arrived over the UK, to the west and east of our region also just north of Marlborough, with little precipitation locally, so I thought a recent Met Office article might be appropriate.

Warnings for thunderstorms issued, but why do we get them in warm weather?

Author: Met Office
Thu, 25 Jun 2026

Warnings for thunderstorms have been issued for many western parts of the UK in recent days, as a transition to the weather pattern is on the way.

These storms come after another very hot day, and it is this heat that plays a key role in their development. So, why do we get the most severe thunderstorms in hot weather?

Why thunderstorms develop in hot weather

Thunderstorms are most likely to occur when the atmosphere becomes unstable. This typically happens when very warm air near the surface sits beneath much cooler air higher up. During periods of hot, humid weather, especially after a few days of strong sunshine, the ingredients for this instability are often in place.

Hot conditions increase the amount of energy in the atmosphere. As the warmed air near the surface rises, it begins to cool and condense, forming large, towering clouds known as cumulonimbus. These clouds can grow rapidly and are capable of producing heavy rainfall and thunderstorms

Inside these clouds, powerful updrafts and downdrafts create a turbulent environment. Water droplets, ice crystals and hailstones collide, generating electrical charges within the cloud. Over time, this build-up of charge becomes strong enough to be released as a sudden electrical discharge – lightning.

The flash of lightning heats the surrounding air extremely quickly, causing it to expand rapidly and produce a shock wave. This is what we hear as thunder.