Climate News Tracker analysed 97 UK TV and radio programmes during the record breaking May 2026 heatwave to understand what information audiences received about the heatwave, its health impacts and its links to climate change.

by Rosie Frost (Journalism Insights Analyst), Alina Sandauer (Content Analyst) & Dr Lissa O’Reilly (Content Analyst)

The record breaking May 2026 heatwave dominated UK TV and radio news, appearing in 88% of programmes monitored by Climate News Tracker. But across six days of unprecedented heat, only 40% linked the story to climate change, fewer than one in five explored health impacts in depth, and just four mentioned fossil fuels.

The heatwave peaked at 35.1°C at Kew Gardens on 26 May, breaking the previous May temperature record by more than two degrees and making it the hottest May day ever recorded in England. It brought temperatures above 30°C for six consecutive days.

Public concern rose alongside temperatures. NHS England reported that its heatstroke advice page received more than 20,000 visits on Bank Holiday Monday alone, up from fewer than 500 visits on the equivalent day the previous week. While larger spikes in heat related advice searches have been recorded during summer heatwaves in previous years, the scale of demand was unusual for May and reflected the exceptional nature of the event.

The heatwave also became a major public safety story. At least 11 people, the majority of them children, died in open water. Tens of thousands of homes in Kent lost their water supply after South East Water’s reservoir near Whitstable reached a critical level under surging demand.

Broadcasters responded with extensive coverage. Reporters were dispatched to Whitstable, Ashford, Pickmere Lake, Swanholm Lakes and the banks of the River Ribble. Warnings from the RNLI, the National Fire Chiefs Council and the UK Health Security Agency featured in almost two thirds of programmes.

Health impacts were discussed in fewer than one in five.

On 25 May, as temperatures continued to climb, the Met Office reiterated findings from a climate attribution study published the previous summer. It said that breaking the May temperature record is now around three times more likely than it would have been in a climate unaffected by human greenhouse gas emissions. What was once a one-in-100-year event is now a one-in-33-year event.

Yet the climate link in broadcast coverage was uneven. Weather presenters carried much of the weight, going beyond their standard forecasts in nearly half of programmes to explicitly cover the heatwave. Climate correspondents appeared in just three programmes.

As temperatures began to ease on 27 and 28 May, the climate link fell away. The burning of fossil fuels was explicitly mentioned in just four programmes across the entire six day period.

Climate News Tracker analysed coverage across programmes spanning the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News between 23 and 28 May 2026.

Key Findings:

• 88% of the 97 programmes monitored covered the heatwave, with 89% of those giving it substantive treatment.
• 40% linked the heatwave to climate change. Just four programmes mentioned fossil fuels.
• 66% mentioned warnings, but only 19% covered health impacts in any depth.
• Climate correspondents appeared in just three of the programmes analysed.

How was the heatwave covered?

Coverage of the heatwave was high from the outset, but shifted significantly in character as the week progressed.

On 23 May, 11 of the 14 programmes monitored covered the story, but the climate link was made in just three. Coverage was largely celebratory in tone, led by reporters at beaches, lidos and outdoor events, with the focus on record temperatures and public enjoyment of the bank holiday sun.

By 25 and 26 May, as temperatures peaked and records fell, the climate link became far more prominent. On 25 May, 14 of the 15 programmes that covered the story linked it to climate change, a rate of 93%.

On 26 May, that figure remained high at 88%, with 14 of 16 programmes making the connection. These were also the days on which health impacts featured most prominently, with four programmes on 25 May and nine on 26 May covering them in some depth.

But as temperatures began to ease on 27 and 28 May, the climate link fell away sharply. On 27 May, just three of 16 programmes made the connection, a drop from 88% to 19% in a single day.

On 28 May, the figure edged up slightly to four of 17, or 24%. By this point, the agenda had shifted to water safety and utility failures, both of which were covered extensively but rarely framed through a climate lens.

Warnings and health impacts

Warnings featured in 66% of programmes, reflecting how quickly the heatwave became a public safety story.

UKHSA heat health alerts were the most commonly cited, appearing in around 32 programmes across the period.

Open water and cold water shock warnings from the RNLI, the Royal Life Saving Society, the National Fire Chiefs Council and police forces featured in around 22 programmes, becoming dominant from 26 May as the open water death toll rose.

Met Office weather warnings also started to appear from 26 May as thunderstorms were forecast to follow the heat.

But formal warnings and substantive coverage of health impacts are not the same thing. Heat health alerts were in force across England for the entire six day period and beyond, yet only 19% of programmes covered health impacts in any depth.

Where health was discussed, it tended to focus on vulnerability, elderly people, care home residents and people with dementia, rather than on the broader public health picture.

The scale of public concern was visible in NHS data cited on ITV Lunchtime News on 27 May. NHS website traffic to its heatstroke advice page surged from 488 visits the Monday before the heatwave to more than 20,000 on the bank holiday Monday, a more than 40 fold increase in a single week.

Across the six days of coverage, in depth discussion of what the heat was doing to people’s health was the exception rather than the rule. Broadcasters were quicker to pass on official safety messages than to explore the wider public health story those messages pointed to.

Linking the heatwave to climate change

Where the climate link was made, it was often made well.

On PM on 26 May, Carlo Buontempo of the Copernicus Climate Change Service explained why Europe is warming faster than any other continent. On Sky News Today on 25 May, correspondent Barnaby Papadopoulos told viewers that an extreme weather event like this one is now 30 times more likely than it would have been since pre industrial times.

But, the percentage of programmes linking the heatwave to climate change varied sharply over the six days, even when there were clear news pegs that could have helped make that connection.

Fossil fuels were mentioned explicitly in just four programmes, and in almost all cases the reference came within a wider discussion of climate change rather than as a standalone point.

Broadcasters were most likely to make the climate link when temperatures were breaking records. As attention shifted to water safety and supply issues, that link became far less common, despite the continued relevance of climate attribution, public health and adaptation.

Depth of coverage

Where broadcasters covered the heatwave, they generally covered it well. Of the 85 programmes that covered the heatwave, 76 treated it as a substantive story in its own right.

Just five gave it a passing mention, and four covered it as a substantive segment within a broader programme.

That depth was consistent across broadcasters and time slots. Reporters were regularly dispatched to the scene, with live two ways and packages featuring across breakfast, daytime and evening programmes alike. The story was rarely reduced to a bulletin or headline.

Weather presenters and climate correspondents

Weather presenters were a consistent presence throughout heatwave coverage and, in a number of programmes, went beyond their standard forecast to explicitly link the conditions to climate change.

On Good Morning Britain on 27 May, Laura Tobin described smashing the May temperature record by more than two degrees as something that “in any other context would seem impossible”, attributing it to a warming climate. On BBC News at Six on 26 May, Chris Fawkes showed viewers a graph of UK temperature records stretching back for decades and said: “This is what climate change looks like.”

Just three programmes featured coverage from a climate team. In their absence, the climate link was largely left to weather presenters to make, often within forecasts and ad hoc studio discussions rather than through dedicated correspondent packages.

What voices were featured in heatwave coverage?

Across all programmes which covered the heatwave, 135 external voices were heard. Members of the public accounted for one quarter of all external voices, largely through vox pops at beaches and lidos.

On BBC News at Six on 25 May, for example, one man at Southsea beach told a reporter: “If this is what global warming means, I don’t want the other stuff, but lovely temperatures like this is good.”

Water safety experts accounted for 11% of voices and emergency services for 10%, reflecting how heavily the open water deaths drove the agenda. Professor Michael Tipton of the National Water Safety Forum appeared on both Sky Breakfast and PM on 27 May, while Jim Bridge of Greater Manchester’s Water Safety Strategic Partnership featured across four BBC programmes on the same day.

Despite heat health alerts being in force for most of the period, health professionals accounted for 4% of voices. Scientists accounted for 5% and meteorologists 4%. Met Office representatives and experts made up a further 7%.

Taken together, named climate, weather and scientific experts made up around one in five external voices, compared with one in four for members of the public.

What did audiences receive?

The May 2026 heatwave dominated the broadcast news agenda for six days. Audiences received extensive reporting on what happened, including record temperatures, open water deaths, water shortages and safety warnings.

But the data suggest that when the story shifted from record temperatures to open water deaths and water supply failures, the climate and public health dimensions became less visible.

That left audiences with extensive coverage of the immediate impacts of the heatwave, but less consistent explanation of why such events are becoming more likely, what they mean for public health and how they connect to a warming climate.

Methodology

Climate News Tracker used keyword searches across transcripts to identify programmes that mentioned the heatwave, using the terms: heatwave, heat wave, record temperature, rising temperature, extreme heat and heat.

This returned 85 programmes across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News between 23 and 28 May 2026. Each of these was manually reviewed in full, with a further 12 programmes checked and confirmed as having no relevant mention, giving a total of 97 programmes monitored across the period.

Each programme was classified according to whether it gave the heatwave substantive coverage, treated it as a substantive segment within a broader programme, gave it a passing mention, or gave it no coverage at all.

A substantive story was defined as one in which the heatwave was the primary subject of the item. It would not exist without it. A substantive segment was defined as one in which the heatwave was a significant theme explored in meaningful detail, but sat alongside other topics or drivers. A passing mention was defined as a brief, incidental reference that would not materially change the item if removed. Programmes were discounted where keyword matches referred entirely to unrelated content.

Each programme was coded for whether it linked the heatwave to climate change, mentioned fossil fuels, cited official warnings and covered health impacts. External voices were identified and categorised by type through manual review of transcripts.

This analysis measures whether climate change, fossil fuels, warnings and health impacts were mentioned or discussed. It does not assess the accuracy or quality of every reference.

Programmes reviewed
BBC Breakfast, Today, Good Morning Britain, Breakfast with…, Sky News Today with…, BBC News at One, The World at One, ITV Lunchtime News, PM, 5 News at 5, 5 News Weekend, Newshour with…, BBC News at Six, ITV Evening News, Channel 4 News, The World Tonight, The World this Weekend, BBC News at Ten, ITV News at Ten and Newsnight.