Thursday 6th August
Wednesday was such a pleasant day with variable cloud and warm sunshine, not the excessive heat of recent days. The thermometer peaked at 23.2C being just 1.6C above average that made it the coolest day since 19th August. The past night saw the temperature drop below the August average with a minimum of 9.5C at 05.13, which was just a few minutes before sunrise at 05.38.
The new day on Thursday began with modest sunshine that had lifted the temperature to 15.8C by 08.00. Today is going to be the last of the much cooler days with a maximum close to the average before the heat returns over the next few days. A large area of cloud, associated with the low-pressure system towards Iceland, is just to the north of our area that will push down across southern England today which will give us a day dominated by sunny periods between breaks in the cloud cover.
The Azores high has not give up and over the past twenty-four hours has pushed back across the UK and towards Europe with the pressure having risen another significant 10mb since yesterday.
The anticyclone will extend and relocate towards the weekend sending hot weather back over the country that is likely to reach heatwave temperatures well into next week. The approaching low pressure system will be overcome and slide south over Spain by the weekend. The depression near Iceland will attempt to push weather fronts across the country but be rebuffed by the anticyclone.
Even though the extended dry spell continues there is still a daily loss of equivalent rainfall due to evaporation from the ground and plant life of over 4mm daily, already 22mm this month.
Why has it been so dry recently?
Author: Met Office
Tue, 04 Aug 2026
The role of heat
The dryness has also been intensified by heat. July was characterised by back-to-back heatwaves and exceptionally warm temperatures, which worsened the dry conditions by drying out soils and increasing pressure on water resources.
When temperatures are high, evaporation increases and soils lose moisture more quickly.
This means that dry conditions can become more severe even without a complete absence of rain. Warm, sunny and breezy weather can all accelerate the loss of moisture from the ground, vegetation and water bodies.
The result is that rainfall deficits become more noticeable. Gardens, farmland, river catchments and reservoirs can all come under increasing stress, especially when warm conditions follow an already dry spell. That is why recent heat has played such an important role in how dry the summer has felt and in the development of drought conditions across Wales and parts of England.