The hottest August temperature recorded in the UK is 38.5C, which was reached in Faversham in Kent on August 10 2003.
The last time temperatures for the month came close to equalling this record was in 2020, when a peak of 36.4C was measured at both Heathrow and Kew Gardens in London on August 7, according to Met Office data.
In 2024 a peak of 34.8C was reached on August 12 at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge.
The 30C mark has been passed in August somewhere in the UK in most years in the past decade, except for 2017, 2021 and 2023.
The highest temperature so far this month is 27.8C, which was measured at Astwood Bank in Worcestershire on August 10.
The 30C is likely to be passed this week, as the UK is set to experience its fourth heatwave of the summer.
The average warmest August on record was in 1995, when the mean temperature for the UK across the month was 17.3C.
The most recent year to appear in the top 10 warmest Augusts is 2022, which ranks in fifth place with a mean average of 16.6C.
Met Office data for temperature begins in 1884.
The UK’s sunniest August on record was in 1947, when an average of 259.5 hours of sunshine were measured during the month.
The most recent year to appear in the top 10 sunniest Augusts is – again – 2022, sitting in fourth place with 208.5 hours.
Met Office data for sunshine starts in 1910.
The driest August since records began was in 1947, when an average of just 9.9mm of rain was measured across the UK.
The top 10 driest Augusts include only one year in the 21st century, 2003, which is in fourth place with 26.7mm rain.
Rainfall records begin in 1836.
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