By Neil Lock
For those currently in the southern UK or Northern Europe, this requires no introduction. For our American and further-afield friends, I’ll just say that the “climate change” hype in the UK has not died down in the last few months as it has in many places elsewhere, but rather intensified. We have been promised this:
And this:
37C at 16:00. Remember that. And 38C for the high of the day.
The remainder of this essay will simply be screen dumps from the Met Office website, and brief commentaries on them.
Taken at 16:23 on 24th June 2026
No 37C reading I can see. I’m a little way north and east of the centre of that dodecagon of stations, by the way. 35 miles by road from both Heathrow and Charlwood (which is right off the end of the runway at Gatwick), and a little further from Shoreham. If I understand right, the Met Office does not now use measurements from any actual stations closer to me than these 10. And the forecasts for where I live are “in-filled” from the data from the 10.
Taken at 16:42
They are telling me it’s 37 degrees here, when even Heathrow has recorded only 35? And at this time of day, wouldn’t you expect the temperature to be going down, not up?
Taken at 17:14
Still no measurements, but here’s their temperature “forecast” for 14 minutes ago:
Odd how they don’t forecast for the same places as they take the measurements, eh?
Taken at 17:33
So, Kenley – the nearest station to me that is no longer a busy airport – has gone up to 34. But there’s still nothing above 35. Where’s the 37?
Taken at 17:42
So, now they tell me it’s 36C here, still hotter than Heathrow. Not a chance. Oh, and the high for the day here was 38C. Even less chance.
I remember June 26th, 1976. 98F (36.7C) was recorded at the Southampton Weather Centre. Where I was, playing in a brass band at a fete in Haslemere, Surrey, one of our big tubas physically seized up. It hasn’t been nearly that hot today.
If the Met Office declares that a new record UK June temperature was set today in South-East England, they’re lying.
