August is usually the hottest month in the UK, though of course temperatures do vary hugely from place-to-place and year-to-year. But few of us who were around at the time can forget the heatwave of early August 1990, which broke the UK temperature record that had stood for almost 80 years.
The record-breaking figure came from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, on 3 August, when temperatures peaked at 37.1C (almost 99F). This comfortably broke the previous figure of 36.7C (98F) set at various locations in the famously hot summer of 1911.
The 1990 heatwave was widespread, with temperatures in early August remaining over 32C (89F) across large swathes of England and Wales, and over 35C (95F) across much of southern England. This had predictably disruptive effects on the transport system, especially railways (the wrong kind of sun?), and also melted the entire stock of a chocolate factory in Liverpool. Tragically, the prolonged hot weather also led to a number of drownings, as people attempted to keep cool.
But that August 1990 record only lasted another 13 years, until 10 August 2003, when the mercury reached 38.5C at Brogdale in Kent – finally breaking through the famous 100-degree Fahrenheit barrier.
