The summer of 2026 – marked by drought and waves of wildfires – has been declared the hottest in Britain since records began.Met Office forecasters said today that the average temperature for June, July and August across day and night was provisionally 16.5C (61.7F), higher than the record set last year of 16.1C (61F) and the previous 2018 high of 15.7C (60.3F).The summer was also one of the sunniest on record – evidenced by the acres of parched grassland in parks and fields across the country. It means the infamous 1976 summer and its heatwave is now just the seventh most intense summer in recent memory, with the top five hottest seasons all occurring since 2003.Dr Amy Doherty, who leads the National Climate Information Centre at the Met Office said: 'The conditions we've seen this summer have broken UK climate records once again.'Particularly notable is how much we've exceeded the previous summer mean temperature record, set just last year.'Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the weather service, said the figures were an example of the extremes 'we can expect to see more frequently'. Britain has officially sweated through its hottest summer since 1884 A wildfire rages in Bonhill, Scotland, early this summer A man is seen using a fan to cool down on the London Underground amid 36C temperatures A mobile phone shows a Government Severe Alert Warning about the 'very high risk of wild fires nationally' on August 14 King Charles III wipes beads of sweat from his face as he attends a London Climate Week reception in JuneHe said: 'Our analysis shows a summer like the one we've just experienced is now around 130 times more likely because of climate change.'In a climate unaffected by human emissions of greenhouse gases, a summer like this would be exceptionally unlikely – one in over 1,000 years.'Temperatures hit 30C (86F) in the UK on 40 separate days this summer, beating the previous record of 34 days, set in 1995.A temperature of 35C (95F) or higher was recorded on ten separate days, beating the previous record of five days set in 1976 and matched in 2020. The intense heat has also made 2026 the first year on record to see three separate days where temperatures reached the 37C (99F) (98.6F) threshold – an unpleasant, sweaty milestone that has only been reached nine times in the UK in total. The hottest day of the year was recorded at Kew Gardens in London on August 13, when temperatures reached 38.1C (100.6F) during one of the five official heatwaves to hit the country across the summer.The lack of rainfall produced the driest July in 190 years and saw the Environment Agency declare a drought in up to 70 per cent of England and all of Wales. The status remains in place as of today.Millions of people remain under hosepipe ban conditions amid dwindling water reserves and low river flows, forbidden from using sprinklers and hoses to water gardens, wash cars or fill paddling pools.