The UK will finally see rain and cooler temperatures across the country after last week’s heatwave – but we may not have seen the last of the heat.
A long-range weather forecast from the Met Office suggests that while the rest of August will remain cooler and see more rain, higher temperatures could return as we head into September.
However, the much-needed showers could be short-lived. The Met Office predicts there is a “chance that late season hot spells or heatwaves develop, especially in the south” in the first twelve days of September.
“Temperatures are likely to be above average overall” during this period, according to the forecast.
Murray said a September heatwave “can’t be ruled out”, but said it was too soon to say “with any real confidence” if it will happen, as temperatures will naturally drop as we head towards autumn.
On Monday, “showery rain” was reported across Scotland and Northern Ireland, moving into parched regions of southern England in the evening.
“By the end of Tuesday, I think most places should have seen some rainfall,” Niamh Murray, operational meteorologist at the Met Office, forecasted to The i Paper last week.
Wildfire alert
Almost three quarters of England and all of Wales are now in drought following prolonged dry weather, and millions face restrictions on water usage.
The British Geological Survey said the UK’s groundwater levels are in “remarkable” health despite the drought conditions. But, Met Office chief meteorologist Will Lang warned, autumn rains were unlikely to spell the end of this summer’s drought conditions.
The message sent out to all UK phones on Friday warned against lighting anything that could spark a wildfire (Photo: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)On Friday evening, UK residents were startled by an alarm and emergency alert sent to mobile phones warning of a nation-wide threat of wildfires.
It urged the public not to do anything that could spark a blaze, specifically using barbecues, lighting campfires or setting off fireworks due to a “serious risk” of wildfires.
This was the first time the government’s emergency alert system, which was set up in 2023, has been used to send an alert to the whole of the UK with firefighters battling multiple wildfires.
Burnt-out houses following a large grass fire which spread to several homes during the hottest day of the year, in Stourbridge, West Midlands (Photo: Reuters/Temilade Adelaja)Last week alone, emergency services attended to wildfires in southern Wales; Stourbridge, the West Midlands; Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent; and Kettering, while fire crews are still tackling a wildfire in the New Forest that broke out on 9 August.
On Friday, the number of wildfires recorded across England and Wales so far in 2026 surpassed the total recorded in 2025 – previously the worst year on record for wildfires.
The Rainham Volcano
Areas across the borough of Havering in London have been plagued with severe fires, and residents live in fear that their homes will be destroyed.
Fires are a “daily” occurence in Havering this summer, Rainham resident Chris Read, 78, told The i Paper.
Read lives near a park that overlooks the infamous Launders Lane site – a former illegal landfill dump with contaminated waste that frequently bursts into flames, dubbed the “Rainham Volcano“, but has never been cleared away.
Read said the fires are “getting really scary now”.
“I think there’s one in the borough every day, sometimes twice a day,” she said.
A fire on the contaminated Launders Lane former landfill site, near Chris Read’s home. (Photo: Chris Read)One fire two weeks ago came dangerously close to her house.
She said: “There was smoke, the winds blowing it our way. it’s just a case of shutting the windows, shutting the doors, and hope to God the fire goes. It’s like being in prison.”
Military deployed to help firefighters
Prime Minister Andy Burnham launched a package of measures to respond to wildfires, including ordering retailers to remove portable BBQs from the shelves and repurposing the Army.
Soldiers from the British Army’s Gurkha regiment were pictured in South Wales digging firebreaks – strips of land cleared of trees and vegetation – to help prevent the spread of blazes.
Soldiers from the Gurkha Regiment digging firebreaks in South Wales (Photo: Ministry of Defence/Getty) Firefighters work to contain a grass fire which started at Lake Farm Country Park in Hayes, in the western suburbs of London on 8 August (Photo: Toby Shepheard/Getty)None of Britain’s 49 fire and rescue services currently has direct access to a firefighting aircraft or helicopter to drop large quantities of water.
The i Paper revealed that the UK does have RAF Chinook helicopters which are capable of dropping up to five tonnes of water at a time from a huge bucket suspended below the aircraft.
But these and their specialist crews are currently based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on standby to help with wildfires on the island.
How else will the drought and fires be tackled?
The Prime Minister has announced a £65m package to support struggling farmers.
£50m of the funds will be directed towards supporting environmentally friendly food production methods through the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The remaining £15m will support the construction of on-farm reservoirs to provide supplies during future dry summers.
A growing number of water reservoirs across the UK have reached critically low levels this summer.
Five reservoirs are now classed as being “exceptionally low” by the Environmental Agency – including the Somerset sites of Wimbleball and Blagdon, running at just 50 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.
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