Perhaps I’ve been overly hasty in not entitling this article “The First July Heatwave of 2026 in West Devon”?
Be that as it may, here is the current UKV forecast for tomorrow afternoon:
This suggests that tomorrow afternoon temperatures in West Devon will reach the official heatwave threshold of 25 °C.
Looking further into the future, here’s the UKV forecast for Friday afternoon:
This suggests that temperatures will reach 35 °C in central England, and 29 °C in our neck of the West Country woods.
[Update – July 8th]The last two days reached the 25 °C threshold at the nearby Rothamsted Research Farm at North Wyke:
The Met Office failed to forecast this morning’s mist:
However, the forecast clear blue skies have now arrived and a heatwave here lasting at least 9 days now seems a certainty:
We had mist here once again this morning. It’s dispersed now, and the promised sunshine has arrived:
Here is this morning’s UKV forecast for 3 PM this afternoon. It suggests that temperatures may reach 32 °C slightly east of here. and as much as 34 °C south of The Wash:
The heat is forecast to move westwards on Friday, which will be the peak of the current heatwave. UKV shows a possible 34 °C near here, and 35 °C inland for central southern England.
The UKV forecast wasn’t too far out. Nearby North Wyke reached a maximum of 30.8 °C, and hance clocked up a sequence of 4 heatwave days so far.
Far to the east, Monks Wood near Huntingdon clocked up 34.5 °C, and Wisley south-east of London achieved 35.5 °C:
Note the 10 °C difference between today’s maxima inland at North Wyke and at Bude on the coast of North Cornwall. That’s going to change tomorrow and over the weekend. Here’s this afternoon’s Met Office forecast for Bude:
The latest UKV model run predicts a maximum temperature this afternoon of 33 °C around here:
However, the Met Office forecast from their web site suggests a maximum of a mere 31 °C:
The Met Office forecast proved to be spot on, since the maximum temperature at North Wyke proved to be 31.2 °C. Bude beat that by achieving 31.9 °C:
The 06Z UKV model run suggests a maximum temperature this afternoon of 32 °C for our corner of West Devon:
The Met Office forecast sticks with a maximum of 31 °C here :
Today’s maximum at Bude is forecast to be 32 °C. The end of the current heatwave in our vicinity is predicted to occur on Friday 17th July, when the maximum temperature falls just below the 25 degree threshold.
[Update – July 11th 22:00]Today proved to be slightly cooler than yesterday. The maximum temperature at North Wyke was 30.9 °C. Bude reached 31.4 °C:
The West Country occupied several of the top spots on the UK daily maximum temperature leader board. However the UK maximum was over the border at Bournemouth Airport in Dorset, which the Met Office considers to be part of the Southern England region.
[Update – July 12th]The heatwave in West Devon continues to slowly cool down. Based on the 06Z UKV model run, Somerset looks favourite to set today’s maximum temperature across the UK:
In local news, today’s Met Office forecast suggests that temperatures still above the heatwave threshold will be reached on Friday, with Saturday being noticeably cooler:
At long last there is a chance of some much needed rain here. This afternoon the Netweather rain radar shows a storm brewing just over the border into Cornwall:
Meanwhile the Met Office lunchtime forecast has increased the probability of rain here to 30%:
The temperature here is also now forecast to reach the heatwave threshold of 25 °C on Saturday.
[Update – July 16th 22:00]We eventually managed a grand total of 0.31 mm of rainfall yesterday, but other nearby locations had real downpours. For example, Launceston just over the border into Cornwall managed nearly 5 mm
We did at least hear plenty of rumbles of thunder here!
[Update – July 17th]The heatwave lingers on. Based on the 06Z UKV model run, temperatures in our vicinity will reach 26 °C this afternoon.
The Met Office forecast at 7 AM goes one better, suggesting that 27 °C is possible:
The forecast also suggests once again that the heatwave will officially come to an end tomorrow, with the maximum temperature reaching only 24 °C
[Update – July 17th 22:00]Devon is back in the top 10 maximum daily temperatures today, in the form of Exeter Airport
Temperatures in our vicinity reached 28.2 °C at North Wyke, with Bude being significantly cooler at a mere 22.6 °C
[Update – July 18th]Based on both the 06Z UKV model run and this morning’s Met Office forecast, temperatures around here still stand a chance of reaching 25 °C this afternoon.
P.S. Not only does today extend our official heatwave for another day, but also North Wyke is currently 5th on the highest UK temperature leader board at 4 PM!
North Wyke ultimately achieved a maximum temperature of 26.2 °C today. The run will almost certainly end tomorrow, but North Wyke is now amongst the top ten longest sequence of heatwave days in the current UK event:
The July heatwave continues at Exeter Airport, but here in West Devon it is officially over. North Wyke could only muster a maximum temperature of 24.7 °C today:
To be continued…
