2018 British Isles heatwave
The 2018 Britain and Ireland heatwave was a period of unusually hot weather that took place in June, July and August. It caused widespread drought, hosepipe bans, crop failures, and a number of wildfires. These wildfires worst affected northern moorland areas around the Greater Manchester region, the largest was at Saddleworth Moor and another was at Winter Hill, together these burned over 14 square miles (36 km2) of land over a period of nearly a month.
The parched landscape of the United Kingdom and northwestern Europe, 15 July 2018 | |
| Areas | British Isles |
|---|---|
| Start date | 22 June 2018 |
| End date | 7 August 2018 |
| Peak temp. | 35.3 °C (95.5 °F), recorded at Faversham, Kent on 26 July 2018 |
A heat wave was officially declared on 22 June, with Scotland and Northern Ireland recording temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) for the first time since the July 2013 heat wave. The British Isles were in the middle of a strong warm anticyclone inside a strong northward meander of the jet stream, this was part of the wider 2018 European heat wave. The Met Office declared summer 2018 the joint hottest on record together with 1976, 2003 and 2006.