What will you tell your grandchildren about the summer of '26?

For decades, 1976 has been the benchmark for hot summers in the UK.

But half a century later, has 2026 now claimed that position?

It has been a summer of broken records, wildfires and hosepipe bans across the South.

As it draws to a close, we look back on some of the moments that will be talked about for years to come.

By mid-July, Reading University's Atmospheric Observatory said the year had already seen more days above 30C than the whole of 1976, with 15 by that point, compared with 14.

It also became the first year on record to reach 35C in May, June and July.

On 24 June, Gosport in Hampshire reached 36.1C, breaking the UK's June record, which had stood at 35.6C since 1976.

That original record was set at Mayflower Park in Southampton on 28 June 1976 - meaning the 50-year-old record fell to a spot on the same stretch of Hampshire coastline.

The new record was not to last. It was broken again the following day in Somerset, and again the day after in Norfolk, where temperatures eventually peaked at 37.7C - the hottest June day ever recorded in the UK.

Another record fell when Kew Gardens broke the UK's May record twice in two days, and by 9 July, the country had already recorded eight days above 34C - more than any year on record, including 1976.

The summer of 2026 will also be remembered as a summer of wildfires.

Fires broke out across England as the heat and lack of rain left swathes of countryside tinder-dry.

Concern over the fires came to a head on 14 August when the government issued an emergency alert to phones across England and Wales, warning of the risk and imposing a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.

Few places in the region felt that impact more than the New Forest.

On 9 August, a van fire on the A31 near Ringwood spread into the heathland and ancient woodland of the national park.

By the time fire crews finally left the scene two weeks later, more than a square kilometre had burned.

At its height, the blaze required firefighters from across the country and the A31 itself - a main route between Southampton and Bournemouth - stayed closed for more than a week, causing major disruption.

Forestry England said the fire had destroyed trees along with rare heathland and wildlife, warning it would take decades for the environment to fully recover.

In Oxfordshire, a large fire broke out at a landfill site near Didcot in August, sending a thick plume of smoke across the area and forcing nearby residents indoors.

Fire crews in Berkshire said 2026 was on course to be worse than 2022, with incidents up in both number and scale.

Among those was a blaze in Upper Basildon believed to have started when a combine harvester's blade struck a flint.

And in Dorset, the pressure became so intense that a major incident was declared on 13 August as crews battled a high number of fires simultaneously, including one which destroyed a barn at East Lulworth, believed to have been started deliberately.

Fires were not the only consequence of the extremely dry weather.

By mid-summer, hosepipe bans had spread across almost the entire region.

Southern Water was the first to act, banning hosepipes across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from 10 July.

Thames Water followed on 23 July, restricting customers across Oxfordshire and parts of Berkshire, while South East Water brought in its own ban covering Hampshire and Berkshire from 25 July.

On 29 July, the Environment Agency formally declared a drought across parts of the region, including Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and the Thames Valley.

Rivers ran at some of their lowest levels on record and reservoir storage fell well below average for the time of year.

One of the most striking moments came on 18 August, when Wessex Water introduced its first hosepipe ban in 50 years, covering parts of Dorset and Hampshire.

The company said it was the first time restrictions had been needed in the area since the drought of 1976.

For thousands of families, the summer of 2026 will be remembered as the summer school finished early.

At the peak of the June heatwave, about 200 schools across the region announced closures or reduced hours, with some shutting entirely and others offering early collection as temperatures topped 36C.

In Oxfordshire, about 140 schools faced disruption, while dozens more closed or cut their hours across West Berkshire.

On the Isle of Wight, three secondary schools closed or partially closed over consecutive days as the island came under a red heat-health alert.

Not every council took the same approach. In Dorset, most schools stayed open throughout, with the local council advising headteachers that school was often the safest place for children to be.

High streets felt the disruption too.

Greggs closed stores across the country, including in Gosport and Wantage, to "protect its customers and colleagues" during the worst of the heat.

Rail operators cut services and warned of longer journey times, while councils in Reading and Slough opened "cool spaces" for anyone struggling to stay comfortable at home.

An ice rink in Slough saw a rush of regulars who said it was the best place in town to exercise without overheating.

While an outdoor pool in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, reopened almost a month early after pressure from residents.

Behind the record-breaking numbers, the heat put real strain on the region's emergency and health services.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical incident as its buildings struggled to cope with the heat.

South Central Ambulance Service also declared a critical incident due to an "unprecedented" level of calls, driven largely by dehydration and collapses among elderly people.

South Western Ambulance Service had its busiest day on record, managing over 4,300 incidents in a single day - a rise of more than a third on typical demand.

A third service, South East Coast Ambulance Service, covering north-east Hampshire, also declared a critical incident, asking the public to call 999 only in life-threatening emergencies.

According to UKHSA, an estimated 2,877 people died from heat-related causes in England during the May and June heatwaves.

A separate rapid analysis by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and the Met Office found that climate change was responsible for around 42% of those deaths.

It also added 3C to 4C to daytime temperatures that would not have been reached in a world without human-caused global warming.

Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Reading-based Royal Meteorological Society, said summers were only going to become hotter and drier - and that what the region had just lived through was "kind of the new norm for us in the UK".

She warned that if a dry autumn and winter followed, the region could face even greater pressure on its water supplies next year - and that wildfires, once a rarity in the UK, were now one of the fastest-growing risks in the country.

So will the summer of 2026 really prove to be the new benchmark - or just the one that set the bar for those to come?