RECORD-BREAKING weather during July has left Jersey on course for its hottest-ever year, a senior meteorologist has forecast.
Data released yesterday confirmed that last month, which included a six-day heatwave, was the hottest on record. The average mark across the whole of July was 21.3°C, beating the previous record set in July 2022 by 0.2°C.
The July figures followed similar record-breaking data for the previous two months, which were, respectively, the hottest May and June since records began in 1894, with 25 June bringing an all-time high for the Island of 39.3°C. February, March and April also saw temperatures close to the record highs for the time of year.
Paul Aked, head of meteorology at Jersey Met, said that while there were still five months left of 2026, the trend for more extreme weather was being maintained.
“While the remaining months of the year could see temperatures above or below the 30-year average, if the rest of 2026 does bring average temperatures then it would be the warmest year ever,” he said. “We can see from the data that the temperatures, and the amount of records being broken, how our climate is changing.”
Jersey’s hottest year to date was recorded in 2022, with an average temperature across the year of 13.56°C, with the following years also among the hottest on record: 13.34°C in 2023 (2nd =), 12.94°C the following year (8th) and 13.3°C in 2025 (4th).
Last month was also Jersey’s second sunniest July on record, just nine hours behind the record of 374 hours recorded seven years ago, while the total rainfall for the month was 20.7 millimetres, less than half of the average figure for 1991 to 2020 (45.3mm).
Mr Aked said that another feature of the changing climate was for more extreme weather, with more than three-quarters of last month’s rainfall coming during a three-hour downpour on 15 July.
The Island’s sea temperature has also been high – Mr Aked said the monthly figures for the past three years had been, with just one exception, above average. The July 2026 figure of 18.6°C was 1.7°C above the average for the month between 1991 and 2020.
The latest sea temperature figure of 19.5°C, recorded yesterday, is just 0.2°C below the highest figure recorded over the past five years. The last time the official Jersey sea temperature reached 20°C was in August 2003, while the highest-ever reading, 20.7°C, dates from September 1989.
