Summer 2026 (1st June ~ start of meteorological Summer)

[GloriaSmud]

Yesterday (1st June) marked the start of meteorological summer (and the high temperatures last week were hot enough for some and enough to last the year!)

At the moment, the GFS thinks the first 10 days of June are looking unsettled and changeable, then slightly drier/warmer towards the end of next week but the unsettled theme still continues until the middle of the month.

Thoughts from Netweather (from a few days ago) and TheWeatherOutlook on what summer might have in store for us.

@Delatron did you go on holiday? I feel as if you were thinking about cancelling or something. Apologies if I've remembered that completely wrong.

they promised a cool down but monday looks hot again in the south east.

Dark skies again today here. But the other side of the mountains around 30 miles away it's been sunny every day. All very peculiar. No thunderstorms in Europe yesterday thankfully.

We're supposed to get real rain Monday Tuesday and Wednesday next week. South Wales is due really heavy rain. Hopefully the peat will finally go out. The blackened mess is bloody heartbreaking.

This news isn't really surprising after the heatwaves/lack of rain... We really need a wet autumn/winter....

At the moment, the GFS is showing temperatures for the midlands/Wales southwards, wobbling around the low-high 20sC for the next week or two with the cooler temperatures/all the rain passing through the north/Scotland.

Hey @EmeraldRoulette I did go away on a few short breaks. I went to France and it was searingly hot (we were in a city) and we couldn’t do much! But the music festival was on in the evening so that was the main reason to go. At one point they were thinking of cancelling that in Paris as it was too hot.

I did read another thread where someone was going to cancel their trip due to heat.

We also went to Italy and it was creeping up to the high 30s at the end. It is very restrictive as I like to be reasonably active. Thinking of Scandinavia next year as these 40 degree summers in southern Europe and even France now seem to happen every year.

The latest thoughts from Netweather are sort of along the same lines as my post earlier (and mentions the possibility of heatwave no.5) <whimpers at the thought>

We've had gentle rain all night and into this morning.

@Delatron yeah it’s very restrictive

@GloriaSmud I heard about that next spike of heat awhile ago but I keep quiet because obviously I’m not a weather forecaster!

I would describe the whole summer as being a heat wave - it’s just been so horrendous here in Essex and the records don’t even show it accurately.

I agree @EmeraldRoulette this summer is unrelenting

Rain! Or about 0.2mm of it anyway. Probably not enough to end the hosepipe ban 😂

Still no rain here 😞 The weather forecast has been a bit odd for my area (Met Office forecast on YouTube or the app) - sweeping comments about 'bright sunshine all day', but we've had a few days with heavy grey cloud (no rain though!) until about 3 or 4 pm. That does take the edge off the temperature. And today it was sunny this morning, but it clouded over an hour ago (am still hoping for rain!).

I'm fed up now - I'm fortunate I can plan my days, so if I have to be out, I can go first thing, but I'd like to be able to go out all day!

Heat wave 5! I’m done this year. Having a summer is lovely but in parts this has been as unusable as if it had rained every day.
i really am looking forward to October at this stage 🤣

We've just had quite a heavy rain shower ~ this has caused much excitement in the Smud household!

@EmeraldRoulette ~ it probably has felt like one long heatwave. And I keep looking for signs of change and apart from 'more showers,' there's nothing showing when it comes to more 'normal' temperatures (for the midlands/south/SE/Wales) in the next week or two. As socks1107 says, I should think quite a lot of us are hoping for something different in the next few months...

@GloriaSmud that is exciting!

I think it would be more appropriate to describe this weather as being a soup wave. Because even a lower temperature is problematic when the air is like soup. It probably went down about 7° overnight so from 34 to 27. But the soup got thicker.

I think we should lobby the authorities to make this a new official term! We can have a soup index - in some ways planning when you have to do your outdoor stuff, that's the thing you really need to know.

I said similar to DH last evening. The air is horribly thick and humid, no sun so not that hot but it rolls in through open windows and doors like an oily invisible fog. I've been getting nightie on, brushing teeth and preparing for bed I just can't sit in it to watch TV.

it affected me yesterday as i have asthma

It is raining here! No idea how long it will last, but it's very welcome!

A good idea and not the first time soup has been used to describe the weather ~ Pea soup fog.

There have been wildfires in other parts of the country/Europe and the fire at the lovely Dunwich Heath is another one to add to the list.

I saw the fires in Crete tonight. Other Greek islands have fires. Northern Portugal, and Spain.

@GloriaSmud pea soup fog is why I thought it might catch on 😂

@EmeraldRoulette ~

I'm trying to look for some positives as we head towards the last month of meteorological summer ~ there are some fresher days mixed in (for some), there's rain at times (for some, mainly in the north/Scotland) and the sun is rising later and setting earlier (so less time to heat up the day) <grasps at straws once again!>

Today's thoughts from TheWeatherOutlook...

Definitely feels cooler today. Still no real rain. Even the trees staring to go brown in some places.

Difficult to believe it rained every day for about 4 months earlier in the year.

A few BBC reports here on how the heatwaves have affected the country ~ Satellite images of the UK and England and Wales have had the driest July on record...