As well as playing host to some iconic music stars, Glastonbury Festival has also featured the UK’s favourite (or least favourite) supporting act… the weather.  

The first Glastonbury Festival, then called the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival, took place in September 1970, featuring Wayne Fontana, T-Rex and Steamhammer. In the following 52 years, the festival has been subject to a typical mix of UK summer weather, with wind, sun and, of course, rain.  

Using Met Office data from nearby weather stations, the records for Glastonbury Festival tells a story of some unforgettable festivals, with a real mix of conditions.  

When was the wettest Glastonbury? 

In what will come as no surprise to anyone who was there, Glastonbury 2007 holds the record for the wettest day of the festival. 60.1mm of rain fell in a single day at Rodney Stoke, a nearby station to the event.  

For other unsettled weather, the highest gust speed recorded for Glastonbury was 41mph, which has been reached at Yeovilton in 1985 and 1987 during the event.  

Although 1997’s iteration is dubbed the ‘year of the mud’ on the Glastonbury website thanks to a deluge of rain in the days preceding the event, it actually holds the record for the lowest maximum temperature recorded on a day of the event, with 13.2°C as high as the temperature reached at Castle Cary Grove Mead.  

When was the hottest Glastonbury? 

In 2017, with The Foo Fighters headlining, the mercury reached a balmy 31.2°C at Rodney Stoke, while the highest minimum temperature was recorded in the same year, with 17.6°C at the same location.  

The sunniest day of Glastonbury on record was in 1989, when a station at Yeovilton recorded approximately 15 hours and 36 minutes of sunshine.  

Weather forecast for Glastonbury 2022 

With still over a week to go until Glastonbury 2022, there’s much uncertainty about the conditions in the area for the duration of the festival, although there are some promising signs.  

Speaking during the Met Office 10 Day Trend forecast, Presenter Aidan McGivern said: “The first signs for Glastonbury is for high pressure to the west possibly building in later next week and that would lead to more settled weather for the southwest of the UK in particular.  

“As a result of the higher pressure, it’s likely to turn drier and warmer compared with earlier in the week, although no signs of a heatwave at the moment.” 

Check the Met Office app or online for a more detailed Glastonbury forecast nearer the time.  

Find advice on getting out and about this summer with WeatherReady.