Glasgow has hottest summer on record ahead of Cop26 climate summit

Glasgow has recorded its hottest summer on record, just weeks ahead of hosting the critical UN Cop26 summit on tackling the worsening climate crisis.

The record-breaking heat in Scotland came during a summer defined by extreme weather events around the world, leading to catastrophic flooding and devastating wildfires in America and Canada, Europe and Russia and the Middle East and China.

Glasgow’s temperatures over June, July and August are the highest since records began back in 1884.

The news will add to the urgency to slash global use of fossil fuels – the key outcome required from the nations attending Cop26.

According to the Met Office, Northern Ireland had its third hottest summer on record, and Scotland its fourth.

Meanwhile, across much of the UK the summer months have been damp and dreary.

But despite the frequent grey skies, the UK as a whole still has had its ninth hottest summer on record, with an average temperature of 15.28C, making 2021 the hottest summer for the UK since 2018.

While during 2019 and 2020 the UK experienced extreme heatwave events, with the highest temperatures recorded as 38.7C, both years, in contrast 2021 temperatures reached a considerably lower peak of 32.2C at Heathrow on 20th July.

But while the peaks have not been so hot, the Met Office said relatively high temperatures over June and July, along with persistently high minimum temperatures and relative warmth across the north of the UK have pushed 2021 up the rankings.

Detailing the uneven weather this summer, the forecaster noted the wetter weather in the south east, and brighter weather in the north west.

London, East Sussex and Hampshire received 140 to 150 per cent of average summer rainfall, while the Isle of Wight received more than 200 per cent.

Despite this, much of the UK saw below average rainfall and when averaged out across the whole nation, the UK received 75 per cent of its average rainfall.

​​Head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, Dr Mark McCarthy, said: “Summer 2021 will be remembered very differently depending on where you are in the UK, with record-breaking warm conditions in parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland, while in the south and east it’s been much duller and wetter.

“There have been several notable weather events through the summer, including a new temperature record for Northern Ireland and Storm Evert which brought strong winds and heavy rain across England and Wales and extreme rainfall in the south east.”