No summer yet had lived up to the summer of 1976… until now!
Well, the summer of 2026 certainly showed us a thing or two! We all hope for a long, hot summer every year, and those of us who remember 1976 forever compared it to every summer since. No summer yet had lived up to that year – until now, that is!
Quite unexpectedly, the end of May brought our first heatwave of the year. We all laugh about how it always rains when there is a bank holiday weekend, or when the schools break up, but this year we had spectacular weather throughout. So, maybe we thought that was it for while. Not so…
Fifty years on, June brought more heatwaves, with temperatures that smashed through all known records and made 1976 look like a mere warm glow. It was the driest spring on record. We were issued with Red Health Alerts – the second time they have ever been issued (the first time being in the 2022 heatwave), and a phenomenon called ‘tropical nights’ where the temperature remained above 20°C overnight.
Whilst not technically called a ‘heatwave’, the July temperatures remained much higher than average for the time of year, soaring into the late 20s and early 30s every day. By mid-July, some parts of the country were on hosepipe bans and we hadn’t seen any rain in Camber for several weeks.
By the third week in July, parts of the UK had been classified with “Official Drought” but here in the south east our rating was labelled “Prolonged Dry Weather” by the Environment Agency – just one step away from being a drought.
The long-range forecast of unending heat meant that we didn’t see the traditional stampede to the beach by the day-trippers. Usually, with a warm spell only lasting a week, Grockles descend on Camber in their tens of thousands to catch a beach-day during that stint, especially at the weekend.
This year, the visitor numbers have been high, of course, but we haven’t seen the well-known chaos of “Red Days” as day trippers knew they could come on any day for the foreseeable future. The extended period of heat sort of eked the visitors out for us a bit.
King George II was reputed to have said that the British summer is “Three fine days and a thunderstorm!” It is a familiar meteorological pattern here in Britain but, with the humid, sticky heat of July, we all waited, and waited, yet the thunderstorm didn’t come.
Actually, all we needed to do was to wait for was the schools to break up for summer. Sure enough, on the first day of the school summer holidays, the sun disappeared and we saw an overcast, cloudy day. It was a healthy 21°C – but there was still no rain in those clouds.
Meanwhile, the Coastal Office team was on high alert for wildfires. Camber Welcome Assistants could be seen stopping people in the car park if they had a barbecue with them, advising them not to light it near the dunes.
Unfortunately some people did, but the Beach Patrol Team and Coastal Officers were quick to locate the offenders and advise them to extinguish their coals. Day trippers arrived by the coachloads and seeing a dozen or more coaches in Western Car Park became the norm, making for hundreds more people on the beach.
As July rolled into August, more heatwaves came. Here at the newsletter we have lost count! Was it five? Maybe it was six? And still, it remained desperately dry as villagers watched their lawns turn yellow and their garden plants shrivel and wilt or die.
The summer fete on 2nd August was a roaring success, enjoyed by many people – although we felt a little bit fraudulent saying it was on Jubilee Green as there was not much green to be seen. We should have renamed it Jubilee Yellowy-brown! We felt like we were giving Dungeness a run for its status as the only official desert in England!
In early August an unthinkably stupid day-tripper deliberately started a fire in the dunes. Luckily, some local dog-walkers spotted him and shouted at him until he extinguished the flames. This mindless act of vandalism could have had catastrophic consequences for all of us! We all thanked our lucky stars that those eagle eyed dog-walkers acted so quickly. Local heroes, for sure!
Sadly, on the evening of 9th August, tragedy struck our beach once more, when a young man drowned in the water. A family group was swimming in the sea when three young men got into difficulties. Thanks to the vigilance and quick action of one of our beach cleaning team members alongside members of the general public, two of them were pulled to safety. The third young man, just 18 years old, did not make it.
A few days later, on 12th August, thousands of people found themselves a spot on the beach and settled down to watch the eclipse. Whilst it wasn’t a full solar eclipse here in the UK, the moon covered around 96% of the sun. Everyone watched as the sunlight dimmed, almost dusk-like, creating long shadows across the beach and marshes. The last significant eclipse in the UK was on 11th August 1999. The next near-total eclipse, covering 99% of the sun, will cross the south coast on 3rd September 2081!
The same evening, a horse that was being used in filming on the beach was startled and ran into the water up to its neck, refusing to come out. This prompted another rescue operation, this time involving HM Coastguard, Pett Level Independent Rescue Lifeboat, and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Happily, the horse was rescued safely.
As the temperatures climbed once more in the middle of August, bringing yet another heatwave, we all received a “Severe Alert” via the UK government’s warning system about the extremely high risk of wildfires.
The loud alert siren could be heard going off all around the village as residents and day trippers alike reached for their phones to read the message. Even the most dedicated sun-worshippers were praying for rain!
Then, in mid-August, the long run of hot weather broke. The temperature plummeted from 30+ degrees on 16th to a seemingly cooler 24 degrees on 17th. Mother Nature even threw in about 15 minutes of rain overnight!
Coupled with a fresh breeze, an overcast sky and a few spits of rain by tea-time, the new temperature felt a little bit chilly and many of us reached for our cardigans, even though it was still a good few degrees warmer than the average August temperature for this part of the country. Perhaps we had simply become acclimatized to the heat. One resident even mused about whether they should put their electric blanket back on their bed already!
As we went to print for this September edition, the forecast is for temperatures that are closer to average for this time of year, with showers and thunderstorms thrown in along the way.
However, the forecast is always apt to change. One thing that Brits can usually rely on is that it rains on Bank Holiday weekends. This summer’s weather has been so extraordinary that it is always possible the 2026 August Bank Holiday will be different. By the time you read this, we will all know!
