Yes we know. The title is inaccurate. Bryan Adams may take offence and rock up at our Loughborough snow clearance HQ and ask for a “chat”. It’s deliberate obviously as 1976 was the mercurial peak of hot weather in Britain – well the summer was.

Some of our team remember it vividly – record heat and drought conditions. It was the most intense heat for 350 years in the UK and we all wallowed and moaned about it in equal measure.

How hot was 1976?

It was intensely hot; so much so that a new law was passed – the Droughts Act of 1976.

It followed a dry autumn and winter in 1975 and temperatures exceeded 30 degrees without a break for many weeks in many parts of the country – including Glasgow and Aberdeen!

Parts of the south west went 45 days without any rain in July and August. As the hot and dry weather continued, devastating heath and forest fires broke out in parts of Southern England. 50,000 trees were destroyed at Hurn Forest in Dorset. Crops were badly hit, with £500 million worth of crops failing. Food prices subsequently increased by 12%.

Even the waters of the Lake District, a notoriously wet area, dried up and tourists took to walking on Haweswater which was 60 feet below normal levels.

Extreme heat caused deaths too – okay, nothing on the scale of the global pandemic we’re currently battling, but deaths nonetheless.

So why are Weatherwise Services looking at heat?

We are a snow and ice clearance company who operate across England and our job is weather dependent. Tim Grainger, 11 in 1976, would never have predicted cold winters where he, and Andy, would be leading a team of experts. Who would expect that in 1976 as a youngster?

Our point is though that we never know what is around the corner – whether that’s Covid 19, hot summers or arctic winters. The weather is notoriously difficult to predict.

And yet.

Like the goat we referenced in our last post, Be Prepared, we can see patterns in our work.

We wouldn’t expect our gritting teams to be busy in June, July or August but as summer ends and autumn sets in, we are more in demand.

Just as few would have predicted the rising mercury of 1976, do you know what autumn and winter of 2021 and 2022 will bring?

As days lengthen and temperatures rise, keep one eye on your business winter needs and plan ahead by discussing this with us.