Updated: 2026-08-09
On 19 July 2022, the Rochdale station — the closest official Met Office observatory for Manchester in this series — recorded its absolute maximum temperature since records began in 1947. The mercury climbed to 37.2°C on that date, a figure that still stands as the highest ever measured at this location. That same day, the minimum temperature did not drop below 16.5°C, making it an uncomfortable night as well.
Now, the question most residents ask in Greater Manchester: when was the last heatwave? According to the official Met Office archive for Rochdale (station 01125), the most recent day to hit or exceed 30°C was 13 August 2025, when the maximum reached 31.1°C with a minimum of 16.8°C. That is the last heat spike of the entire analysed period, which runs from 1 July 1947 to 31 December 2025. If you are planning an outdoor event or simply wondering whether you have already lived through this summer's hot spell — yes, you have.
The 2025 summer also occupies a distinct place in the recent record. The 13 August reading of 31.1°C ties with 1 July 2015 as the sixth-hottest day ever recorded at Rochdale. The series shows a clear cluster of extreme heat in the last decade: of the ten hottest days on record, seven have occurred since 2015. The oldest entry in that top ten dates back to 13 August 1953, with 30.6°C — a reminder that intense summer heat is not entirely new to the region, but its frequency has shifted noticeably.
These are the only days in the series where the maximum temperature reached at least 31.1°C, presented in descending order. All values come directly from the official Met Office archive.
| Date | Maximum (°C) | Minimum (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-19 | 37.2 | 16.5 |
| 2022-07-18 | 34.5 | 15.0 |
| 2019-07-25 | 33.9 | 15.1 |
| 2020-07-31 | 32.0 | 11.6 |
| 2015-07-01 | 31.1 | 15.9 |
Notice the striking sequence of 18–19 July 2022: two consecutive days above 34°C, a feat unmatched anywhere else in the 79-year series. The second day, 19 July, is the one that set the absolute record. The minimum of 15.0°C on the first of those two days shows how little relief the night brought during that episode. For context, the 2019 figure of 33.9°C on 25 July came during the well-known European heatwave, and it remains the third-hottest day ever measured at this station.
The table below shows, for each year, the number of days when the maximum temperature reached or exceeded 28°C, along with the highest maximum recorded that year. The gap from 1975 to 2006 reflects missing data in the official archive, not a period without heat. From 2007 onwards the series is continuous and complete.
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 | Highest maximum (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 1 | 30.6 |
| 1974 | 0 | 18.4 |
| 2015 | 2 | 31.1 |
| 2019 | 4 | 33.9 |
| 2020 | 5 | 32.0 |
| 2022 | 9 | 37.2 |
| 2025 | 5 | 31.1 |
Reading the data since 2007 — the last continuous stretch — a clear pattern emerges. The year 2022 stands apart with 9 days at or above 28°C, more than double any other year in the entire series; the previous best in that category was 1948, with 3 such days. The years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2025 each brought 4 or 5 hot days. Meanwhile, 2024 was notably cooler, with no day reaching 28°C and a yearly maximum of just 26.9°C. The two most recent entries, 2023 and 2025, tie with 3 and 5 days respectively, confirming that hot summers have become the norm rather than the exception.
The last heatwave you experienced — whether you felt it in the city centre or the suburbs — peaked on 13 August 2025, with 31.1°C. That reading is not an isolated blip: it is the sixth-highest maximum ever recorded at Rochdale, and it came in a year that also delivered 5 separate days above 28°C. For comparison, the decade from 2015 to 2024 produced more extreme heat days than any comparable period since the 1940s, with the single exception of the remarkable 1953 summer.
If you are using this data for planning — a wedding, a festival, or simply deciding when to book a holiday — the pattern is clear. The hottest days in Manchester, as measured at this station, cluster between mid-July and mid-August. The absolute record on 19 July 2022, and the recent 13 August 2025 event, both fall in that window. The series also shows that heatwaves in Manchester rarely arrive alone: the 2022 episode produced three of the top ten days ever recorded, on 18 July, 19 July and 14 August.
One caution for interpretation: the official archive has no data from 1975 to 2006 at this station, so comparisons across the full period treat those years as a gap, not as years without heat. From 2007 onward, the record is complete and reliable. Within that continuous stretch, the most striking contrast is between 2024 — a year with zero hot days — and 2022 or 2025, where the heat was both frequent and intense. That variability is typical of Manchester's maritime climate, but the recent cluster is nonetheless the most pronounced in the entire series.
Source: Met Office — Rochdale station (01125), official MIDAS archive. Period covered: 1947–2025. Data published under the Open Government Licence (OGL v3.0).
HistoClima Tools: discover the weather on the day you were born, your wedding day, or your birthday-week statistics.
AI-assisted content from official Met Office data, automatically verified. 🤖 IA-assisted content · Art. 50 EU AI Act
© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.