Updated: 2026-08-10
Waddington, in Lincolnshire, experiences extreme heat — defined here as days with a maximum temperature above 28°C — with notable variation from year to year. In the warmest summers, the station records 13 such days, while some years pass without a single one. The hottest day ever recorded at this station reached 40.3°C on 19 July 2022, during the unprecedented heatwave that brought the UK its first 40°C readings.
By contrast, cool summers such as 1956 logged only 3 days above 28°C, and 1972 saw just 2. The overall picture, drawn from Met Office data covering 1949 to 2026, shows a clear pattern: extreme heat days cluster in the summer months, with some years packing in many more than others.
The standout moment: On 19 July 2022, the thermometer at Waddington hit 40.3°C, the highest temperature in the station's entire records. That is the absolute maximum for the 1949–2026 period. The previous day reached 36.0°C, and that two-day burst remains unmatched in the series.
When we count days above 28°C, the numbers range from near nothing to impressive stretches. The year with the most extreme heat days was 1995, with 13 days above 28°C. That year also had 26 days above 26°C and 48 days above 23°C, making it the most sustained warm summer in the record.
The years 1975 and 1976 each also reached 12 days above 28°C — the famous drought summer of 1976 included 25 days above 26°C, the most of any year. In recent decades, 2006 logged 10 days above 28°C, and 2022 repeated that total of 12, in line with the 1970s peaks. The record high of 40.3°C in July 2022 stands apart; no other day in the entire period even reached 37°C.
For comparison, the strongest years in terms of sheer count of warm days above 23°C were 2018 with 55 such days and 2025 with 54. Those years did not produce the highest maxima, but they delivered very sustained warmth, especially during the summer months. In 1956, by contrast, the year with the fewest extreme heat days, only 3 days exceeded 28°C and the maximum temperature all year was just 24.4°C.
These are the absolute peak temperatures in the station's available records. The 2022 heatwave dominates the upper end, with two consecutive days in the top three.
| Date | Maximum temperature (°C) |
|---|---|
| 2022-07-19 | 40.3 |
| 2022-07-18 | 36.0 |
| 2019-07-25 | 35.1 |
| 1990-08-03 | 34.8 |
| 2020-07-31 | 33.7 |
The distribution of extreme heat days averaged per year shows something curious. While July and August are the warmest months overall, June and October both appear too, with October averaging more days above 28°C than September — though the data only shows months that actually had at least one such day. The average counts across the full period are:
| Month | Average days above 28°C per year |
|---|---|
| June | 1.9 |
| July | 2.5 |
| August | 2.6 |
| September | 1.5 |
| October | 2.0 |
These averages are low because they span all years, including those with zero extreme heat days. The October number of 2.0 is derived from a few very warm autumn spells; in most years October brings no such temperatures. The unusual presence of October in this list is a statistical quirk of the series, not an indication of typical autumn warmth.
The year-by-year table below shows the complete record for Waddington. The columns cover days above 28°C (the extreme heat threshold), days above 26°C (intense warmth), days above 23°C (warm days), and the highest temperature reached each year.
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Days above 28°C | Days above 26°C | Days above 23°C | Yearly max (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 33.3 |
| 1974 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 23.7 |
| 1990 | 6 | 15 | 38 | 34.8 |
| 2015 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 33.1 |
| 2019 | 8 | 10 | 30 | 35.1 |
| 2020 | 7 | 12 | 35 | 33.7 |
| 2022 | 12 | 22 | 46 | 40.3 |
The rise in extreme heat days in recent decades is visible in the sequence: the 1970s, 1990s, and 2020s stand out with many intense summers, while the 1950s and 1960s often produced none at all. The 2022 maximum of 40.3°C is the clear outlier — the next highest values are 36.0°C and 35.1°C. What matters for everyday life is not just the single peaks but the frequent occurrence of days above 23°C, which has increased in the past decade: 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2025 all brought over 40 such days, with 2018 and 2025 both exceeding 50.
This picture emerges from a remarkably consistent station record: the Waddington series spans from 1 January 1949 to 9 August 2026 in the archived data. For anyone planning summer activities in Lincolnshire, these numbers offer a useful guide to what the climate has delivered — and what it may deliver again.
Source: Met Office · Waddington station · Period 1949–2026
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