Updated: 2026-08-10
35.9°C
The hottest temperature ever recorded at Buxton, set on 20 July 2022
That sweltering July day didn't just break the local record — it obliterated it. The previous highest maximum in the station's 151-year history was 34.2°C, reached the day before on 19 July 2022, when a ferocious heatwave swept across the UK, and before that you have to go back to 4 August 1990, when the thermometer topped out at 32.7°C. Buxton, sitting high in the Derbyshire hills at around 300 metres above sea level, is not a place that racks up extreme heat often — which makes those summer 2022 readings all the more remarkable.
So just how often does Buxton see extreme heat? Using daily maximum temperature records from the Met Office station in Buxton, stretching back to 1875, we can count exactly how many days per year the town surpasses 28°C, 26°C and 23°C. The dataset covers the full period from 1 January 1875 to 30 June 2026.
The short answer: not very often. In an average year between 1875 and 2026, Buxton sees just 2.0 days in May with temperatures above 28°C, 1.7 in June, 1.5 in July and 1.5 in August. Those are the only months where the 28°C threshold is ever reached — and not every year gets even one such day. The hottest year for extreme heat was 1976, with 33 days above 28°C, a figure that has never been matched since.
These are the five highest maximum temperatures recorded at the station since records began:
| Date | Max Temperature (°C) |
|---|---|
| 20 July 2022 | 35.9 |
| 19 July 2022 | 34.2 |
| 4 August 1990 | 32.7 |
| 25 June 2026 | 32.0 |
| 3 August 1990 | 31.0 |
Notice how recent the top entries are: three of the five hottest days occurred in 2022 or 2026, while the remaining two belong to the scorching summer of 1990. The clustering of extreme heat in the past few years is a pattern worth watching.
The table below shows, for every year with complete data, how many days exceeded each threshold, along with the year's absolute maximum temperature. Days above 28°C are counted as "extreme heat days," those at or above 26°C as "strong heat days," and days at or above 23°C as "warm days."
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Days ≥28°C | Days ≥26°C | Days ≥23°C | Year Max (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 |
| 1943 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 30.0 |
| 1990 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 32.7 |
| 2003 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 30.7 |
| 2006 | 4 | 12 | 32 | 30.1 |
| 2022 | 7 | 10 | 16 | 35.9 |
| 2026 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 32.0 |
Several patterns jump out from this 151-year series. The 1976 heatwave season produced 12 days at or above 26°C and 33 days at or above 23°C — numbers that stand out from everything around them. The 1995 summer also stands tall, with 14 days above 26°C and 29 days above 23°C. Then comes 2022, the standout of the modern era: 7 days above 28°C (more than any other year on record), 10 days above 26°C, and 16 days above 23°C, capped by that extraordinary 35.9°C reading. The year 2026, only half-complete in this dataset through 30 June, already shows 6 days above 28°C and has hit 32.0°C — a sign of how intense recent summers have become.
The average number of days per month with temperatures above 28°C shows when Buxton is most susceptible to extreme heat:
| Month | Average Days ≥28°C |
|---|---|
| May | 2.0 |
| June | 1.7 |
| July | 1.5 |
| August | 1.5 |
May leads the pack with an average of 2.0 days above 28°C, a quirk of the record that largely reflects the hot late-spring spells of past decades. June follows at 1.7, while July and August both sit at 1.5. The absence of September from this list is notable: by that point in the year, Buxton's high-altitude location generally keeps maximums below the 28°C threshold.
For anyone planning outdoor events, summer gardening, or simply deciding when to visit the Peak District, the data is clear: extreme heat days at Buxton are rare, typically countable on one hand each year, and concentrated between May and August. The most reliable expectation is that most years will bring anywhere from zero to a handful of such days, with occasional exceptional summers like 1976, 1995, 2006, 2022 or the current early-running 2026 rewriting the picture.
Source: Met Office — Buxton station, full period 1875–2026
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© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.