The Hottest Days on Record in Yorkshire and the East Midlands
ElectriFusion Solutions · 12 October 2026
The day the UK first passed 40°C, 19 July 2022, the stations that did it are in our patch: Coningsby in Lincolnshire, Gringley-on-the-Hill in north Nottinghamshire, Bramham in West Yorkshire. Four summers later the Met Office declared summer 2026 provisionally the warmest in a series going back to 1884. Here is what its figures actually say, and what they do and do not mean for air conditioning.
19 July 2022: the readings
The Met Office's report on the July 2022 heatwave lists the stations that broke the previous UK record of 38.7°C. The highest sat on our doorstep.
| Station | Maximum on 19 July 2022 |
|---|---|
| Coningsby, Lincolnshire | 40.3°C, the UK record |
| Gringley-on-the-Hill, Nottinghamshire | 40.1°C |
| Bramham, West Yorkshire | 39.8°C |
| Sheffield (Weston Park) | about 39°C: 39.4°C in the Met Office's provisional report, 38.9°C in the station operator's own record |
Met Office, ‘Unprecedented extreme heatwave, July 2022’; Sheffield Museums Trust for the Weston Park station record.
Doncaster, Mansfield and Wakefield have no climate station of their own in that table, but Gringley-on-the-Hill is about 20 km from Doncaster and Bramham and Sheffield bracket Wakefield from north and south. Nobody in this part of England was far from 39°C that afternoon.
Summer 2026: provisionally the warmest on record
On 1 September 2026 the Met Office reported an average UK mean temperature of 16.5°C for the summer, provisionally the warmest in its series from 1884. Fifty-four of its weather stations broke their all-time daily maximum temperature record during the season, and the peak was 38.2°C at Hartpury College on 13 August (a figure the Met Office revised on 17 September once a manual site reported). Its scientists put the summer at around 130 times more likely because of human-induced climate change.
What an ordinary summer looks like
The averages are a different story from the records. Over 1991–2020 the mean daily maximum in July was 22.3°C at Finningley near Doncaster, 21.6°C at Waddington near Lincoln, 21.5°C at Nottingham Watnall, the nearest long-term station to Mansfield, 21.5°C at Church Fenton, the nearest with a full record to Wakefield, and 21.4°C at Sheffield. An ordinary summer afternoon here is in the low twenties.
That is the honest case for cooling at home: not the average, but the handful of days and nights each summer when a bedroom under a south-facing roof does not get back below 25°C, and the fact that those days are arriving more often. It is also why a cooling-only purchase is hard to justify on running hours, and why the units we fit are chosen to heat as well.
Cooling that also heats, and the rules it has to meet
A reverse-cycle split unit is an air source heat pump, and since 29 May 2025 it is permitted development on a house under Class G as long as it is not used solely for cooling, is the only unit on the house (two on a detached house), has an outdoor unit of 1.5 cubic metres or less that is not on a pitched roof, and stays within 37.0 dB(A) at a neighbour's nearest habitable-room window or door, calculated by the MCS 020 a) method. In a conservation area it cannot go on a wall or roof fronting a highway, and a listed building needs planning permission.
The 2.5 kW Daikin models we fit are rated between 4.61 and 5.90 for seasonal heating efficiency, so each kWh of heat costs roughly 4.3p to 5.6p at the Yorkshire price cap rate of 25.60p per kWh, or 4.3p to 5.5p at the East Midlands rate of 25.36p, against the full unit rate from a panel heater. A permanently fixed system installed in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027. Prices, positions and the local planning detail are on our air conditioning Mansfield and air conditioning in Wakefield pages, and the Doncaster base page is air conditioning in Doncaster.
Questions
What is the hottest temperature recorded in Yorkshire?
Among the stations in the Met Office's July 2022 heatwave report, Bramham in West Yorkshire reached 39.8°C on 19 July 2022 and Sheffield's Weston Park station about 39°C (39.4°C in the Met Office's provisional report, 38.9°C in the station operator's own record).
What is the hottest temperature recorded in the East Midlands?
40.3°C at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on 19 July 2022, which is the UK record, with Gringley-on-the-Hill in Nottinghamshire at 40.1°C the same afternoon.
Was summer 2026 the hottest on record?
Provisionally yes, by mean temperature: the Met Office reported a UK average of 16.5°C, the warmest in its series from 1884, with 54 stations breaking their all-time daily maximum and a season peak of 38.2°C at Hartpury College on 13 August.
Do I need planning permission for air conditioning?
Usually not for a reverse-cycle unit on a house that meets the Class G conditions: it is not used only for cooling, it is the only unit (two on a detached house), the outdoor unit is 1.5 cubic metres or less and not on a pitched roof, and it stays within 37.0 dB(A) at the neighbour. Listed buildings and some conservation-area positions need an application.