As Britons swelter under yet another heat wave, forecasters are warning that this brutal summer is on course to become the hottest yet.
The Met Office, Britain’s weather agency, issued an amber warning — the second-highest level — for Thursday in large parts of England, warning that temperatures up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) were likely, especially in parts of the Midlands and western England.
Such extreme heat has remade summer for a country where many are used to going abroad to feel the blazing sun on their skins.
“An English summer is not the same anymore,” said Jacqui Browne, 67, as she sat on the brown grass of a London park.
Normally, British summers are more temperate and marked by rain. But drought conditions have left large parts of the country parched.
The north, for example, is not as cool or green as usual, said Ms. Browne’s sister, Janice Kennedy, 66, who was visiting from there.
“Even up north it’s quite warm,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Not like down here, but it’s quite warm up there, as well.”
Some, like Ms. Browne and Ms. Kennedy, still remember the summer of 1976, when repeated long spells of hot and dry weather made it the benchmark for hot summers. Now, that seems almost quaint.
The summer of 2022 stands out in more recent memory. It was then that Britain recorded a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, according to the Met Office.
“Now it’s been overshadowed by the last three or four years,” Ms. Browne said.
Michael Brien has sweated through progressively hotter summers since moving to London more than three years ago. As temperatures in the city reached 35 degrees Celsius on Thursday, he found refuge on a shaded bench.
“It’s been difficult to escape,” he said of the “repressive” heat, as he downed an iced coffee.
He was headed to the Guildhall Art Gallery, one of many “cool spaces” open to the public on a map released by the mayor’s office, which can be used to find air-conditioning, drinking water fountains and tree canopy cover nearby.
Winifred and John Fell went to the gallery after their plans for a trip outside London fell through. (The destination they had in mind had closed because of the heat.)
The Fells, who are in their 70s, are adapting to this hot summer much as they have to past ones — keeping their blinds drawn in the daytime, seeking out cooler destinations. But “five heat waves on a run” is sobering, Mr. Fell said.
“We had enough warning about this,” he said. “Climate scientists were saying a long time ago that we were heading in this direction.”
Parts of southeast England and the West Midlands recorded temperatures of 37.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday afternoon, according to the Met Office. If those provisional readings are verified, it will make 2026 the year with the most 37-degrees-or-above days on record in Britain.
Even if the last weeks of August are slightly cooler, this summer is likely to break records, according to Met Office predictions.
“Another record-breaking summer now looks increasingly likely for the U.K., following the second-warmest June and second-warmest July on record, and yet another heat wave imminent,” Mike Kendon, the Met Office’s senior scientist, said in a statement this week.
“These statistics are a clear reminder — if one were needed — of the stark changes that we are seeing in the U.K.’s climate,” Mr. Kendon said.
Determining how a single heat event was influenced by climate change requires specific attribution studies. But scientists are certain that heat waves around the world are generally becoming more intense, more frequent and longer.
The heat has persuaded some to rethink how they spend their summers.
“I think you might find that is a real win for coastal towns,” Mike Jones, 55, said as he and friends cooled off in a London park. “I think there’ll be more staycations, too.”
His friend Caroline John noted a downside.
“When you go abroad, you have a cocktail and the sea,” she said. “Whereas, in London, you’re on the tube in the heat.”
The sweltering subway system is just one example of a region not built for hotter temperatures, both agreed. Train lines have buckled in the heat, causing many delays over the summer.
“We’re not equipped, are we?” Ms. John, 50, said.
Britain’s weather agency warned that Thursday’s temperatures could affect heat-sensitive infrastructure in homes and businesses. And delays on the road and rail were expected, with potential health and welfare concerns for those stuck on the road.
The high temperatures could also lead to health complications for some, especially older people and those with vulnerabilities.
But for Anesta Logan, 61, who was in the park with Mr. Jones and Ms. John, the new British summer is an improvement over the cool ones she grew up with, to say nothing of the freezing winters.
“The hotter, the better,” she said. “People are always going to complain.”
Nazaneen Ghaffar contributed reporting.
