Image source, Getty Images

The UK is currently in its fifth heatwave of the year, with temperatures over 36C already recorded in parts of the country today.

But how do experts arrive at this count? For many, it might feel like the entire summer has been one long heatwave with little relief.

A heatwave is declared when a location records three consecutive days where daily maximum temperatures meet or exceed regional thresholds.

The threshold varies by UK county, ranging from 25 to 28C.

"The geographical differences reflect the differences in climate across the UK," the Met Office explains.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

This summer is on course to be the UK's hottest since records began, according to the Met Office, and long-standing heat records have been toppling.

This is the fifth heatwave of the year for some parts of the UK - which means a place is hotter than normal for the time of year, for at least three days in a row.

35C has been reached in May, June and July for the first year on record, and has already been passed - near Gatwick airport - today.

The highest temperature of the summer so far stands at 38C, which was recorded at Lingwood in Norfolk on 26 June.

The UK had already recorded more days above 30C by 15 July this year than it did in the whole of 1976 - a year that is remembered by many for its long-lasting heatwave.

71.3% of England and 100% of Wales are in drought, with no rain in the forecast through most of this week across England and Wales.

More than 27 million people are facing water use restrictions across the UK - is your area affected by a hosepipe ban?

Malcolm Prior
Environment correspondent

Image source, BBC WEATHER WATCHERS/D_LONG

As the drought continues, the government is being called upon to do more to help farmers store water on their land in their own reservoirs.

Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), tells the BBC that more farmers who are currently “watching crops die in the ground” should have been able to capture and store rainfall or river water during the wetter winter months.

Just 34 “large raised reservoirs” - the official term for the biggest reservoirs that can hold more than 25,000 cubic metres of water - have been built on farms in England in the last five years, according to government figures.

The CLA, which represents 28,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses, puts that down to cost and a complicated planning process.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is also calling for the government to streamline the planning system, and to fund grants for water management schemes.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the government knows “how hard this summer has been for our farmers” and is making it easier for farmers to build reservoirs and for groups of land managers to work together to store water.

The spokesperson adds that the government is working on new guidance around the licensing processes for farm reservoir projects.

But Lane says such changes need to happen before “another dry year leaves even more farmers watching their harvests fail".

Helen Briggs and Kate Stephens
Climate and Science team

Image source, Matthew Chattle/Future Publishing/Getty Images

As everyone watches the sky for rain, scientists say it will take sustained above-average rainfall over many weeks or months to bring the drought to an end.

But a drought isn’t just about a lack of rain. Heat causes moisture to evaporate from soils and reservoirs.

Drought conditions can persist long after the weather breaks, because the lack of rain spreads through the wider water system.

Rivers may respond relatively quickly when rain returns, but drained reservoirs, depleted groundwater stocks and bone-dry soils can take months or even years to fully recover.

"A landscape can look green again and rivers can rise while significant water deficits remain," says Dr Jeff Da Costa of the University of Reading.

Experts also warn that the first significant rainfall could bring new hazards.

After months of dry weather, hardened soils can struggle to absorb intense downpours, increasing surface runoff and raising the risk of flash flooding even while drought conditions persist.

Darren Bett
Lead weather presenter

Heat continues to build today.

The temperature at Charlwood in Surrey - near Gatwick Airport - has now been recorded at 36.3C.

That makes nine days this year when the temperature has reached 35C - extending the record.

Temperatures will continue to climb over the next three hours or so because skies are blue and the ground is parched.

The Met Office has indicated that there is now a 30% chance that the UK August temperature record will be broken today.

The record stands at 38.5C recorded in 2003.

Nick Beake
Europe correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Governments across Europe are highlighting the economic damage this summer’s extreme heat is causing.

France’s environment minister is among the latest politicians to offer an estimate of the potential financial hit.

Monique Barbut warned that data from the country’s national statistics agency, INSEE, suggests the recent heatwaves could rack up €10bn to €15bn (£12.8bn) in direct and indirect costs.

This week the EU’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, announced that western Europe had experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.

Economists say Europe's record heat and drought in 2026 will have a significant ongoing impact, pointing to the disruption to power supply, shipping and the construction market.

Two of Europe’s key waterways, the Rhine and the Danube rivers, are suffering low water levels which is severely limiting traffic.

The continent’s agricultural sector has also taken a noticeable hit.

Italy’s largest agricultural trade association, Coldiretti, says climate-related damage - such as hail, drought and wildfires could exceed €3bn ($2.6bn).

The Dutch bank Triodos believes the extreme heat and its consequences could wipe out much of the projected economic growth for the EU.

The European Commission had forecast growth of 1.1%, while the IMF expected the euro area to grow by around 0.9%.

Rowenna Hoskin
BBC Wales

Image source, Siani/Weater Watchers

Wales is set for another hot day today with a maximum temperature of 35°C expected, according to the Met Office.

It comes as it provisionally reached its hottest August day on record yesterday with 35.3°C (96F) in Gogerddan, Aberystwyth.

Some clouds will develop during the afternoon and it will feel hot, the Met Office added, with sea breezes offering some relief to those on the coast.

Meanwhile emergency services continue to fight wildfires across Wales, with a major incident declared by South Wales Fire and Rescue earlier this week.

The first minister is urging Welsh retailers to stop selling disposable barbecues amid the wildfire risk driven by this summer's droughts.

Rhun ap Iorwerth said he was behind Andy Burnham’s call for "all retailers big and small" to adhere to voluntary guidance to suspend sales during extreme heat.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, temperatures in parts of England could hit 38C today. It's the fifth heatwave of the summer, with more than two-thirds of England and all of Wales in drought.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a Cobra meeting on extreme heat on Wednesday - the second such meeting on heat so far this year, with the previous one coming under the Keir Starmer government in June.

A potential ban on disposable barbeques was discussed in yesterday's meeting, with increased wildfire risk being driven by the droughts.

The prime minister said he was urging "all retailers big and small" to adhere to voluntary guidance to suspend sales during extreme heat.

He added that in the "longer term" the government would look at potentially banning single-use grills during summer months.

Darren Bett
Lead weather presenter

It is very warm and humid in Northern Ireland and that could help develop scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms. By the evening, these could merge into longer spells of rain.

The Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for the whole of Northern Ireland from 11:00 BST today to 06:00 tomorrow morning.

The storms could be accompanied by hail and gusty winds.

Hot weather often brings transport disruption - so it's worth checking your route before you travel and having a water bottle on hand.

We're seeing some disruption so far this morning:

Transport for Wales is reporting cancellations and possible cancellations on several routes due to "issues with air conditioning" on older trains and a "shortage of trains as a result of extreme heat".

Chiltern Railways says it will be running a "significantly reduced" service due to the heat, and advises customers "to travel only if essential".

East Midlands Railway is also advising against travelling unless essential. Some trains are altering their routes and cutting planned stops from their journey.

There are also planned service alterations on c2c, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, Northern, and West Midlands Railway.

Some 71.3% of England is now in drought, the Environment Agency announced on Monday.

The East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs were moved into drought status, joining seven previously-announced areas in England and the whole of Wales.

A total of 45 million people are now living in a drought area in England, with more than 27 million facing water use restrictions, the Environment Agency said.

Yorkshire and the North East were moved to a "prolonged dry weather" status, the stage before drought, meaning nowhere in England is currently under a "normal" status.

Darren Bett
Lead weather presenter

Temperatures have now reached 30C at Charlwood and Kenley in Surrey, and Herstmonceux in East Sussex.

That makes 38 days now that the temperature has hit 30C in the UK this year.

For context the previous record was 34 days in 1995. Last year there were 17 days and in the summer of 1976 there were 22 days.

Another example that climate change is making extreme weather more likely, more extreme, and lasting longer.

Harry Low
BBC London News

Thousands of households in east London and Essex affected by a major water outage are expected to have supplies restored by Friday after Thames Water completed repairs to three burst mains.

It's nearly a week since about 10,000 homes were left with low water pressure or no water after a series of bursts in South Woodford last weekend.

The water company had previously told residents it would be fixed by Wednesday and Thursday having said the broken pipes "are proving to be more difficult to repair than first thought".

Many have expressed anger as they join long queues at bottled water stations, demanding refunds.

Thames Water said it was "working towards all customers being back in supply by Friday", although it warned recovery times would vary depending on how quickly the network stabilised. The company said some households could regain water sooner.

It has repeatedly apologised for the outage, and said it would "continue to deliver to customers who are registered as water dependent on our priority services register" - but some customers on the register told the BBC on Tuesday that this had not happened.

Toby Wadey
BBC South

Image source, Forestry England

Firefighters are battling a wildfire in Hampshire's New Forest National Park for a fifth day.

The blaze has burned through 1.6 sq km (400 acres) of heathland, an area roughly the size of 230 football pitches.

Crews say the fire's perimeter is now under control, but motorists have been warned about smoke affecting nearby roads this morning.

Temperatures in the area are expected to reach 31C later, raising concerns that conditions could hamper efforts to fully extinguish the fire.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the New Forest wildfire here

Darren Bett
Lead weather presenter

The Met Office has expanded the area covered by its amber extreme heat warning further west.

The length of the warning has not changed and still remains in place until 23:59 today.

In its update, the Met Office says: "The highest temperatures will be in parts of the the Midlands and western England, where 37C or even 38C could be reached."

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent

A&Es in England are experiencing their busiest summer ever – with the record-breaking heat cited as a key factor.

Last month 2.49 million people attended emergency departments – the highest ever.

That came after May and June each saw more than 2.4 million attendances, meaning the three highest totals have come in the past three months.

Alongside the risk of dehydration and heatstroke, a bout of extreme heat raises the chances of complications from chronic conditions like advanced heart, kidney and respiratory failure.

Preliminary figures suggest there were more than 2,800 heat-related deaths in May and June – almost double the total for last year.

NHS medical director Prof Frankie Swords praised the "outstanding professionalism" of staff in what she admitted were challenging conditions.

Unions have described what they say are inhumane conditions for staff with some having to work in buildings with poor ventilation and no air conditioning.

The Royal College of Nursing said it had had reports of nurses collapsing and others with pre-existing health conditions having seizures.

The pressures have been further complicated by equipment breaking down, including scanners and IT systems.

Darren Bett
Lead weather presenter

Temperatures are rising rapidly this morning because of the dry ground, light winds and strong sunshine.

Here are the highest recorded temperatures as of 09:00 this morning:

• Coleshill 27.4C
• Benson 27.0C
• Nottingham 26.8C
• Manchester Airport 26.0C

Scientists look at the climate signal in all this heatpublished at 09:26 BST

09:26 BST

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

The UK has recorded a day at or above 35C in four consecutive months: May, June, July and August.

That's something we've not seen before.

Until this year the UK had never reached 35C in the month of May at all, but that threshold was breached at Kew Gardens on 26 May.

June then brought 38C, while July topped 35C twice, and the benchmark was broken again yesterday.

What matters to climate scientists in all these individual hot days is the pattern that emerges, and this summer it's been striking.

Today's forecast could well run around 7C above the long-term benchmark, the 1961-1990 average.

That is an astonishing figure.

While no single event can be pinned on climate change on its own, what we've seen this year is broadly what scientists have long warned of: major heat events, that were once rare, now arriving one after another.

Weather warnings are issued by the Met Office for severe weather - this can be due to rain, snow, wind, thunderstorms, lightning, fog, ice or, in today's case, extreme heat.

An amber extreme heat warning - the second most severe warning issued by the Met Office - is in place for large parts of England today.

Until 23:59 today, that means:

• People - particularly those vulnerable to heat - could become ill, and there's also a wider risk of sunburn or heat exhaustion
• More people are likely to visit coastal areas, leading to an increased risk of water safety incidents

• There could be delays to trains and on the roads
• Some heat sensitive equipment could fail - possibly leading to power cuts and the loss of other services