Shropshire Star

Which years have had the UK’s warmest Junes?

June 1976 saw an average mean temperature across the UK of 15.0C.

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People sunbathe on Bournemouth beach in June 2018

Four of the 10 warmest Junes on record have occurred within the past two decades.

The years 2003, 2006, 2017 and 2018 are all in the top 10, according to Met Office data.

(PA Graphics)

In first place is June 1976, which saw an average mean temperature across the UK of 15.0C.

Second is 1940 with 14.9C, while 2018 is third with 14.8C.

The Met Office figures also show that 11 of the top 20 warmest Junes on record have occurred since the year 2003.

Last year saw a very warm June, with a maximum temperature of 33.0C recorded at Porthmadog in Gwynedd on June 28.

The hot spell triggered numerous wildfires across the UK, including in Surrey, on Salisbury Plain and on Winter Hill, north of Manchester.

Firefighters tackle a wildfire on Winter Hill in June 2018
Firefighters tackle a wildfire on Winter Hill in June 2018 (Danny Lawson/PA)

Railway lines buckled, causing speed restrictions on many routes, while low river levels in parts of Herefordshire resulted in fish stocks being moved to deeper watercourses.

In Worcestershire and Aberdeenshire, councils used gritters to dust some routes as they had become too hot, and in Northern Ireland a hosepipe ban was introduced.

But 1976 remains the year that saw the warmest June on record.

The scene on Brighton beach as temperatures soared during June 1976 (Image: PA)
The scene on Brighton beach as temperatures soared during June 1976 (PA)

The heatwave that hit the UK in the summer of 1976 was one of the longest in living memory and triggered the most significant drought for at least the last 150 years.

Scorching weather resulted in 15 consecutive days when temperatures reached 32C or higher somewhere in the country.

The year 1976 also saw the highest June temperature ever recorded, when 35.C was measured in Mayflower Park, Southampton, on June 28.

Comparable temperature data from the Met Office begins in 1910.

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