New Warmest Day in Hereford (2026)

 Prediction is difficult, especially about the future - Neils Bohr / Mark Twain / Yogi Berra / Samuel Goldwyn

Only recently, I posted about the temperatures reaching 24 ℃ in Hereford on the 7th April 2026 - the warmest day of the year (2026) so far. That record lasted exactly one day as the mercury rose to 26 ℃ on the very next day (8th April 2026). Officially, the hottest place on the 8th April was the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where the temperature reached 26.6 ℃.

Photo 1: Early Bluebells in the Back Garden (8th April 2026)

In the table below, I've summarised the dates on which the maximum daily temperature first reached 24 ℃ and 26 ℃ in our city garden in Hereford. For the accolade of being the earliest recording of 24 ℃, 2026 was in second place after 2021. However, for the new milestone of the earliest date to reach 26 ℃, 2026 has moved to the top of the pile, just ahead of 2020.

Year	Earliest Date for 24 oC	Earliest Date for 26 oC
2020	April 8th	April 11th
2021	March 31st	June 1st
2022	May 17th	June 15th
2023	May 15th	June 9th
2024	May 7th	May 9th
2025	April 11th	April 29th
2026	April 7th	April 8th

Whereas 2026 required just a single day for the highest recorded temperature to move from 24 ℃ to 26 ℃, it took two months to achieve this in 2021. British weather is so unpredictable which is one of the reasons we love it so much and cannot stop talking about it.

We are now in for a cold spell, apparently, as the temperatures return to normal. As I write this on the 9th April, today's maximum temperature was 12 ℃ cooler! Or just a bog-standard April day in the English Midlands.