The Met Office has confirmed that temperatures reached 28C in one part of the UK, marking the warmest start to May on record. In a post on X the meteorological organisation said: "With the temperature at Kew Gardens reaching 28.0C and still climbing, it is now officially the warmest start to May on record for the UK. The previous May 1st record high temperature was 27.4C at Lossiemouth in Scotland in 1990."

So far, spring 2025 has been warmer and drier than usual. March was England’s sunniest since records began in 1910, and the UK’s average temperature for the month was 1.3C above normal. Rainfall was at just 43 percent of the average – and in some parts of southern England and Wales, it was less than a fifth. April’s full data is expected soon, but the pattern of warm, dry conditions has continued into May – and it's already having an impact.

Figures from the EU’s Copernicus satellite monitoring system show that 29,484 hectares of land have already been burned across the UK this year - more than double the yearly average of 12,613 hectares recorded between 2012 and 2024.

There have been 84 wildfire incidents so far in 2025, compared to an annual average of 58.

Fire Scotland has warned that the wildfire risk is now “very high to extreme” across central, southern and north-eastern areas of the country during the bank holiday weekend.

Natural England rates fire severity as “very high” for most of the UK apart from Wales and the north-west and south-west of England.