Updated: 2026-07-31
The hottest consecutive stretch ever logged at the Met Office station in Buxton lasted exactly 1 day. That single day of extreme heat was 20 July 2022, when the maximum temperature reached or exceeded 35°C. For a town known for its cool, damp climate in the Peak District, that day stands alone in the entire measurement period.
1 day
consecutive days at 35°C or above
That's the record heatwave for Buxton — all of it on 20 July 2022. No other day in the station's history has joined it back-to-back at that threshold.
For context, Buxton is not a place where 35°C happens easily. Its elevation and northern position mean such temperatures are rare even in the warmest summers. The 2022 heatwave — which affected much of the UK on that date — produced the only reading at or above 35°C in Buxton's entire series, and it lasted exactly one day before conditions cooled. This makes the record both recent and remarkably short compared to heatwaves seen in southern England.
These figures come from the Met Office MIDAS archive, which consolidates daily weather readings from the national network of stations. The data for Buxton covers the period from 1 January 1875 to 31 December 2025. A search across every daily maximum temperature reading in that span identifies any run of consecutive days where the maximum hit at least 35°C, and the longest such run is the record.
In this case, the answer is unambiguous: 1 day, from 20 July 2022 to 20 July 2022. There is no longer streak anywhere in the 151-year span of records.
Because a single day at 35°C or above has been the only occurrence, the top-5 list contains just that one entry. Every other heatwave — if we define it as at least one day above 35°C — would be shorter, and none exists at all in the entire record. The full top list, from the Met Office data, is:
| Start date | End date | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-20 | 2022-07-20 | 1 |
| — | — | 0 |
| — | — | 0 |
| — | — | 0 |
| — | — | 0 |
That single row tells the whole story: in 151 years of daily records at this station, Buxton has never seen two consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 35°C or higher. The 2022 event is not just the longest heatwave — it is the only heatwave at this threshold ever recorded.
Days at 35°C+ — Buxton (1875–2025)
The 2022 event stands alone: 1 day vs. 0 days average in the historical series
• Bars represent the annual count of days with Tmax ≥ 35°C. Historical average = 0 days.
It is worth emphasising that a "heatwave" in the commonly used Met Office definition (three or more consecutive days above a station-specific threshold) has never been reached at Buxton for the 35°C figure. The absolute maximum temperature typical for this location is far lower, and the data confirms the climate is simply not prone to prolonged extreme heat of that magnitude.
Comparatively, many UK stations — particularly in the southeast — have recorded heatwaves of several days at or above 35°C during the same period. Buxton's record of exactly 1 day illustrates how elevation and latitude protect it from the most intense and sustained heat. The single day on 20 July 2022 remains the benchmark against which all future hot spells will be measured.
These findings are based entirely on the official Met Office MIDAS dataset for the Buxton station, covering 1 January 1875 to 31 December 2025. Every daily maximum temperature reading was scanned to identify consecutive runs at or above 35°C. The result is the figure above: 1 day, on 20 July 2022.
If you are planning outdoor events in Buxton during summer and want to avoid the most extreme heat, the data is clear: sustained 35°C heat has never occurred here. That does not mean warm days are impossible — but at the specific threshold of 35°C or higher, the historical record shows only a single day in over a century and a half.
The next time you hear about a UK heatwave, remember Buxton's own answer to the question of its longest heatwave ever: 1 day, and that day was 20 July 2022.
Source: Met Office MIDAS archive, Buxton station, 1875–2025.
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