Updated: 2026-07-31
38.8 °C — the highest temperature ever recorded at the nearest Met Office station to London was measured on 19 July 2022. That day, the thermometer at the High Beach station (Essex) soared to this exceptional value, breaking all previous records in the 1978–2025 series. It was the peak of a historic heatwave that also brought 36.5 °C on 18 July and a minimum of 19.0 °C overnight — a sign of how extreme that event was.
This station, High Beach, is situated at 110 m above sea level, about 20.8 km from the centre of London. Since it's the closest official measuring point, its records are the best reference we have for the area. Keep in mind that the actual temperature in London can differ from this station's readings because of local factors — the urban heat island, the River Thames, or altitude differences. But as a measure of what the region can experience in extreme heat, this is the authoritative long-term record.
The 1978–2025 period at High Beach contains 48 years of daily maximum temperature data. The absolute record of 38.8 °C on 19 July 2022 stands out not only for its value but also for its recency — it was set just a few years ago, and it beat the previous record by a wide margin. Let's put that in perspective: in the whole dataset, only three other days have exceeded 36 °C, and all of them happened in this century.
These are the five extreme days in the entire series, ranked by maximum temperature. Values are exact from the Met Office MIDAS database.
| Date | Max temp (°C) | Min temp (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-19 | 38.8 | 19.0 |
| 2003-08-11 | 36.7 | — |
| 2022-07-18 | 36.5 | 14.6 |
| 2019-07-25 | 36.4 | 18.2 |
| 2020-07-31 | 35.6 | 15.1 |
Notice that 2003-08-11 (36.7 °C) has no minimum recorded — that data point is missing, but the maximum is confirmed. And three of the top five days are from July 2022, making that heatwave exceptional not just for one day, but for a sequence of extreme days.
Across all years, here’s how the highest maximum temperature ever registered in each month and the long-term average maximum for that month compare (both in °C). This shows that the hottest monthly records are concentrated in summer, with July leading.
| Month | Record max (°C) | Average max (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 16.8 | 7.0 |
| 02 | 19.1 | 7.9 |
| 03 | 23.5 | 10.8 |
| 04 | 28.0 | 14.0 |
| 05 | 30.2 | 17.3 |
| 06 | 31.7 | 20.4 |
| 07 | 38.8 | 22.7 |
| 08 | 36.7 | 22.3 |
| 09 | 31.8 | 19.4 |
| 10 | 28.8 | 15.1 |
| 11 | 18.0 | 10.4 |
| 12 | 15.8 | 7.9 |
July’s record max of 38.8 °C is the absolute record of the entire station. August follows with 36.7 °C, and June has reached 31.7 °C. Even in April, the thermometer has hit 28.0 °C — a surprisingly high value for spring.
Looking at the hottest day of each year in the series, you can observe the variability and the recent peaks. The chart below is interactive — here’s the raw table of all 48 years:
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Annual max temp (°C) |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 34.7 |
| 2003 | 36.7 |
| 2006 | 33.7 |
| 2007 | 24.4 |
| 2019 | 36.4 |
| 2020 | 35.6 |
| 2022 | 38.8 |
You can see that in the 1980s and 1990s, annual maxima rarely exceeded 30 °C, but since 2015 they have consistently done so, except 2017. The peak of 2022 stands as a clear outlier — it is 2.1 °C above the second-hottest year (2003), which shows how exceptional that day was.
So, if you are planning an outdoor event near London and want to avoid extreme heat, you can’t rule out a record-breaker based on history alone: the highest ever reading was 38.8 °C on 19 July 2022, and the most extreme recent summers have been 2003, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Conversely, the coolest annual maximum in the series was 24.4 °C in 2007, so some years have never reached even 25 °C.
This is not just an isolated number. The 38.8 °C measured at High Beach is the highest official temperature that the Met Office has recorded at this station since 1978. It is far higher than what Londoners experienced in the famous 2003 heatwave, which was already extreme. This reflects the broader trend of intensifying heatwaves in the UK.
For context, the average maximum temperature in July (the warmest month) is 22.7 °C. On 19 July 2022, the maximum was more than 16 degrees above that average. That's the difference between a pleasant summer day and a serious health risk.
Even the mínimum temperature that night was 19.0 °C, which shows that the heat did not relent at night, a key factor in heat-related health issues.
Source: Met Office MIDAS archive, High Beach station (Essex). Period 1978–2025.
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