From bone-dry to soaked to the bone, welcome to the age of climate whiplash | Aditya Chakrabortty

<p>This punishingly hot and dry summer will probably be followed by another wet winter. But it’s nothing compared with what Britain will endure in years to come</p><p>This summer could be the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/cn8n9pg54m1o">hottest</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c17199dy4yxo">driest</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/30/excess-deaths-caused-by-heatwaves-in-england-almost-double-so-far-this-year">deadliest</a> in English history. Successive heatwaves have so far claimed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/30/excess-deaths-caused-by-heatwaves-in-england-almost-double-so-far-this-year">almost 3,000 lives</a>. Nearly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/07/could-uk-ever-run-out-of-water">three-quarters of England and all of Wales is in drought,</a> while key reservoirs are parched. Across this brown and stickily unpleasant land, from Grimsby down to St Ives, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/21/thames-water-joins-hosepipe-ban-england-wales-drought">hosepipe bans are in force</a>, while music festivals are staged not on green fields but in giant dust bowls.</p><p>Just how bad is it? I asked a leading climate scientist.</p><p>Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/20/hot-summer-wet-winter-welcome-to-the-age-of-climate-whiplash">Continue reading...</a>