Updated: 2026-07-31
The hottest September day ever recorded at the measuring station nearest to Birmingham reached 31.6 °C on 9 September 2023. That balmy late-summer afternoon stands as the warmest September reading in the full series analysed, which runs from 1 March 1991 to 31 December 2025. It is a relatively recent mark, set barely two years before the last data in this dataset — a sign of how intense the early autumn can get.
What this means: on that day, the thermometer at Coton-in-the-Elms climbed to 31.6 °C, a value more typical of high summer than of a month usually associated with cooling days and the first fallen leaves.
The point of measurement closest to Birmingham is the Met Office station at Coton-in-the-Elms, in the county of Derbyshire, situated at 85 metres above sea level and about 32.6 km from the city centre. All figures below refer strictly to what this station records — not to a direct reading taken in Birmingham itself. The city’s actual temperatures can differ from those in Coton-in-the-Elms due to local factors such as urban heat, altitude variations, the proximity of water bodies, or sheltered valleys. This station’s data, however, is the best official reference available for the area.
September is a month of transition. Summer heat often lingers, but the sun’s angle weakens and the Atlantic starts to send more changeable weather. A reading of 31.6 °C in that context stands out precisely because it is rare — it belongs to the last full week of meteorological summer’s tail, when records of this magnitude are exceptional.
The analysis covered every daily maximum temperature recorded at Coton-in-the-Elms between 1 March 1991 and 31 December 2025, looking specifically at all September days. The highest value in that entire month-by-month scan is the one set on 9 September 2023. No other September day in that 34-year-plus window surpassed it. The record is recent, which means the warm spell leading to it is still fresh in the memory of anyone who was in the region that weekend.
To put that number in human terms: 31.6 °C is the kind of warmth you would expect on a hot July afternoon, not at a time when school terms have restarted and evenings draw in noticeably. It is a reminder that British Septembers can still produce genuine heat when the right air mass sits over the country.
The figures come from the official Met Office MIDAS archive, the UK’s national weather station network, held at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis. The series used here is continually consolidated and checked. The station identifier for Coton-in-the-Elms is 00542, and the entire daily record from that site — spanning from 1 March 1991 to 31 December 2025 — was scanned month by month to isolate the September maximums.
No other number from that station comes close enough to 31.6 °C in September to be confused with the record; the margin of separation is meaningful. The data also confirms that the record is not an ancient one — it happened in 2023, well within living memory and recent enough to be verified against radar and satellite imagery from that day.
If you are organising an outdoor event near Birmingham in early September, the lesson from this record is that heat is possible, but it is the exception rather than the rule. The 31.6 °C of 9 September 2023 is the single hottest September day in more than three decades of official readings at this station. Most September days are far cooler. But when a warm spell aligns with high pressure, temperatures in the low thirties are not impossible.
The record’s recency is worth emphasising: it was set in the same decade we are in now. That does not make every September hot — far from it — but it does mean the conditions that produced such a day remain within the system’s current envelope. It is not a relic of a warmer past; it is a live, recent measurement.
Coton-in-the-Elms sits in Derbyshire, roughly 32.6 km from Birmingham. While it is the nearest official Met Office station, the topography between the two is not identical. The station’s 85-metre elevation is modest, but Birmingham itself has its own urban microclimate, which can raise overnight minimums and occasionally affect daytime maximums. For any rigorous comparison, treat these numbers as the best available reference for the broader Birmingham area, not as a precise forecast for a specific street or district.
Here is the complete picture in a single table:
| Record | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Hottest September day | 31.6 °C | 9 September 2023 |
The above table contains the only September record that exists in this dataset: one temperature, one date. It is the answer to the question this page poses, and it comes straight from the official Met Office series, unmodified.
For those who want the broader picture: the full daily record at this station spans from 1 March 1991 to 31 December 2025, which is the period analysed here. Within that range, no other September day produced a higher maximum than 31.6 °C. That is the complete statement — not an approximation, not an extrapolation, just the measured truth from the instrument.
Source: Met Office MIDAS archive, Coton-in-the-Elms station, period 1991–2025. Official data from the UK national meteorological service, Open Government Licence (OGL v3.0).
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© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.