Is the heatwave hotter than the summer of 1976?

My daughter was born December 1975, and her Christening was on 4th July 1976 - this was the hottest day, so far, but it got hotter after that. I think it went on longer than this year and I remember that everybody’s gardens were just burnt to a crisp - no grass, and a total ban on watering gardens or cleaning cars.

Didn't they say earlier in the year that one month had been hotter than 1976?
I just don't believe it, I had my first child in March that year and the heatwave started in early April. It lasted into October, without remission, and I am quite convinced that it was hotter than this year. Our local common kept spontaneously bursting into flames and ended up as a blackened wasteland, with charred trees sticking up. This simply isn't happening this year, we've had the awful rain and we do have cooler or more breezy days during the hotter spells.
I'm much fatter than I was in those days and completely melt on an ordinary summer day, let alone when my bedroom is at 31 degrees as it was a couple of days ago. At least today it is breezy.

We spent a couple of days away in an older house this week and the ground floor there was pleasantly cool. I'm trying to think of ways to improve the insulation in our modern flat to keep it a little cooler but huge patio doors really need shutters and in many cases this is simply not possible so we have bought a lovely awning.

muse

The odd day may be hotter but there were parts of UK that had no rain for nearly 7 weeks in 1976.

We were in the UK and had no rain for more than six months!

Come to near the coast of Norfolk, we’ve had a lot of cloud, much lower temperatures apart, from an odd day, and the evenings have been quite chilly some days!

N.Ireland hit 30 degrees in 1976, y'day 32 degrees so we are definitely warmer this year and told it may break another record today as we still have an amber alert for extreme heat today. I can't really remember the 1976 one, although I was 10 years old, but listening to all your stories about it and how long it lasted, it sounded bloomin awful.

For me 76 was hotter and lasted a long time. I recall staying during the night to cook food as far too hot to turn an oven or hob on for any length of time. There was a water ban for weeks too, at least in the south of England.

I was at the end of my first year at college and everyone else, except me, sunbathed out the back of our halls of residence. I stayed inside all the time and kept haunting the library for more books! Never have liked being out in the sun. I was badly blistered by the sun as a child and have hated it ever since.

I was married in Henley in May 1976 and it was so hot! We were going to Seychelles in June for two years and thought we would be nicely acclimatised before we left. Never. We climbed down the airplane steps in Mahe and it felt like we were in an overheated greenhouse.

Yes it was hot and lasted months, as other posters say. There were water shortages and reservoirs were perilously low. As someone upthread said, some areas had to have standpipes installed in the streets for water.
I seem to recall that that year we had a plague of greenfly quickly followed by ladybirds - thousands everywhere.
A very strange summer indeed.

No that one was hotter- i can remember I'd gone to stay at my best friends house for a couple of weeks as she had a a big family and as we went to different schools too it was company for me- ( i was youngest in our house but as brother & sister were quite a bit older it was like growing up an only child) i remember i shared a room at my friends house with her & her sister and we had the sash window pushed right up every night but it was still too hot, there was no air really, no breeze like there usually is by night time, the temperature never dropped, we were awake hours as it was so blooming hot! And as we were playing out for a lot of the time during the day (we were 13 by then so 'playing out' meant just wandering around her (new built back then) estate seeing our other friends- or sunbathing on her driveway on a bed cover(they had no car) i remember i got really bad sunburn on my arms that year- i had to keep putting cold wet flannels on them to take the heat out of it(we didn't get all the warnings about the sun/about sun safety in those days)! My mum came to collect me and my arms were so sore & burnt she had to take me to chemist for 'special' cream for treating sunburn- these days we would not let that happen of course, and if it did and was so bad we would scoot the child round to a&e or at very least,the dr's surgery.So NO-1976 was definitely worse (so far) we had a water ban on hosepipes and watering gardens, or washing cars etc, and it got so bad we had stand pipes put up in our street as there was a water shortage as the reservoirs were drying up.

We were discussing summer of 76 recently and how some one would have to be about 50 to remember how hot it was.
Although the summer didn't start warm. My husband and his friend was putting up a greenhouse at the end of May and it was so cold I was sat in my full length sheepskin coat giving directions from the instructions.
I too was pregnant and gave birth first week in August. I couldn't sleep through the night and 3.30am when it was daylight I would be outside gardening! Later in day when the heat became unbearable I would have tepid showers. Everyday the sky was brilliant blue and cloudless.
I clearly remember the September thunderstorms that broke that heat wave. The electric was off for a couple of days following and it was back to basics. The summer of 75 was a pre taster of what was to come in 76. July and August 75 was very hot. Just like this year is forecast to be.

Yes, as others have also said, it went on for months with heat & no rain.Every where gardens were dried up and even parks and trees were going brown & crisp.

I remember standpipes in the street as they'd cut the water off for long periods. The heat went on for week after week and we were desperate for rain. What we've got now is mild compared to that. And I was young and fit and joined a tennis club! Ah, those were the days.

I think 76 was hotter as it lasted a lot longer

I was also pregnant and the heatwave went on for ages, many weekks. This one is just days......5 days where I am living.
In 1976 a close friend's mother had to use stand pipe in the street as all households had water cut off and that was in Yorkshire.
London was diabolical.

I remember it well - my youngest was born on the 7th September - it started to rain on the 8th - all the young mums went outside to dance in the rain! It was hell - temperatures at night did not drop below 72 Fahrenheit for days on end - week after week- month after month - unforgettable ???

westendgirl

I remember emptying the bath to water the garden. Weren't we told to share the bath water or was that another time ?

You're right, "save water, bath with a friend" was the slogan they used.

And the photos of dried up, cracked bone dry reservoirs. I worked in an office opposite Hammersmith Fire Station and every hour or so the sirens would start up as they went to another emergency! My office had no aircon so windows were open all the time. Gee, I'm glad I don't have to go work!

Probably not. Not yet anyway.

The highest temperatures of '76 haven't been reached yet, although there's plenty of time. The current heat wave hasn't gone on for as long either, and unless it extends into September it won't.

The thing about 1976 is that sunny weather and high temperatures went on and on and on for weeks. I particularly remember going to a party at the Reading University boathouse at the beginning of June with steady drizzle all day. I don't recall seeing rain after that until the end of August.

We are about to say goodbye to the sun today so make the most of it. It’s only been a few days....I will miss it when it’s gone. Had a lovely swim in the sea this week on a day out, that won’t happen again for a long time, if ever. My knees and hips are beginning to play up...

Don’t think it was this hot but felt like it to me as I was pregnant with my eldest dd and she wasn’t born until mid September when it rained!

It's gone already!
There's a lovely breeze here.

25Avalon- never mind its supposed to be good luck for it to rain on your wedding day!?

Yes our water was cut right off for a long time when we had the stand pipes & stayed off think only on a couple of hours a day (yorkshire) the water company delivered us 5 gallon containers to get water at the pipe.

DanniRae

OMG I don't even remember the heat wave of 1976! I had two children of 5 and 3 and was a stay at home mum. I have diaries going back that far I will take a look

I will be back.........

Ok found my 1976 diary and yes I did comment on the weather but just in passing. Very strange to read about my girls - now 48 (and a mother herself) and 50 - as little ones! I guess when I am gone and they read all the diaries it will be weird for them too!