In brief: Jersey’s September 2026 was the fourth warmest on record, according to Jersey Met, with temperatures peaking at 28C and sunshine well above average. Rainfall, however, was roughly half the long-term norm for the month, despite one notably soggy day.
A September to remember, mostly for the right reasons
If you spent last month quietly congratulating yourself on not booking a holiday abroad, you may have been onto something. Jersey Met has confirmed that September 2026 was the island’s fourth warmest September on record, with an average temperature of 18.6C compared to the 30-year average of 16.6C. That is a full two degrees above what islanders might typically expect, and enough to keep the barbecue out well into autumn.
The BBC reports that the warmest day fell on 6 September, when the mercury climbed to 28C. For context, that is the kind of temperature that has people in northern England writing breathless letters to newspapers. In Jersey, it presumably just meant a slightly longer queue at the beach car park.
Sun up, rain down, then mostly sun again
The month’s sunshine tally came in at 215.8 hours, comfortably above the 30-year average of 205.7 hours. So far, so glorious. The one notable interruption to proceedings came the very day after that 28C peak: 7 September brought the wettest day of the month, with 10.1mm of rain falling in a single day.
That dramatic one-two punch of heat then downpour is the kind of weather sequence that keeps Jersey Met in business and islanders perpetually uncertain about whether to pack a jumper. Despite that soggy interlude, the month’s total rainfall came to just 29.6mm, well below the long-term September average of 59.7mm. In other words, Jersey received roughly half the rain it would normally expect across the whole month.
What it means for the island
A warm, dry September is broadly good news for tourism, hospitality and anyone with an outdoor event to run. The extended warmth and sunshine will have been welcome for the island’s agriculture sector too, though persistently below-average rainfall over time can raise questions about water supply and crop conditions.
It is also worth noting that this is the fourth time September has earned a place in the record books for warmth, suggesting a pattern that islanders are becoming increasingly familiar with. Whether one attributes that to broader climatic trends or simply to Jersey’s reliably unpredictable charm is, of course, a matter of perspective.
Source: BBC News
