Wimbledon Weather Over The Decades

Eighty-one years ago, as the allied forces departed from various ports across England’s south coast on D-Day, the weather was dark and foreboding, with squalls and 5-foot seas. As he boarded one of the vessels and readied himself to cross the choppy waters to an uncertain fate, British Lieutenant Colonel Ted Tinling looked up at the gathering clouds. Decades later, Tinling would recall what he’d said to his compatriots at that moment: “Thank heaven we don’t have a Wimbledon this year.”

For Tinling, an English spy and author who is considered by many to have been the 20th century’s foremost tennis dress designer, the fact that there would be no Championship to be spoiled by the bad weather of 1944 seemed like a very lucky thing. As he recounted in 1982, there was “just a war” to be won instead.

Ever since the Championship’s beginnings in 1877, weather has played a fundamental role at Wimbledon, shaping both the action on the courts and the dramas that play out in the grandstands alongside them. While each year’s tournament tells its own specific story, the weather is always a big part of it.

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And as we look back over the last 148 years, Wimbledon (and the fashion choices made by those attending the championship) also suggest some of the ways our weather is changing.

What Is 'Wimbledon Weather'?

There are, it would seem, two main stripes of Wimbledon weather: hot or wet. When we look back at descriptions of the championship’s early years, wet is the dominant theme.

And when we see early photographic depictions of the tournaments, the clothes people wore, both to play and to spectate, are hard to comprehend: not because of their fashion choices, necessarily (OK, maybe for some people), but because they seem completely incongruous with what we know about the weather around central England this time of year.

For example, take a look at this engraving depicting the first Wimbledon Championship, published later in 1877 in London’s “Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.” The final was scheduled for Monday, July 16, but had to be postponed for three days due to rain.

As you can see from the image, it was evidently cool enough that spectators were comfortable standing around outside in mid-July at 3:30 p.m. in their Victorian formalwear.

If we fast forward almost half a century to see what Wimbledon spectators were wearing 100 years ago in 1925, the fashions have clearly changed (Hats: shorter. Furs: bigger.), but not so much the temperature. Again, it looks downright chilly! And in fact, according to the Met Office, 1925 holds Wimbledon’s record for the lowest maximum temperature of the tournament: on June 24 of that year, the day’s high was just 53.6 degrees.

One wonders if the cold weather was the reason the woman in the flower hat is giving the camera some serious side eye.

In the 1930s, something changed. When used previously, “Wimbledon weather” had meant one thing: rain showers. For example, a newspaper report from another tennis tournament in 1922 read, “In spite of ‘Wimbledon weather’ yesterday, a fair number of matches were played between the showers in a gale.”

According to the “Wimbledon Guardian,” however, by 1937, a tennis correspondent for “The Times” wrote about a “blaze of sunshine that can surely be called Wimbledon weather,” and by 1953, the same paper wrote of “real Wimbledon weather” to describe a beautiful first day of play.

This photo, showing people waiting in line to see the Men’s Singles Final between Australia's Frank Sedgman and Budge Patty of the United States on July 7, 1950, starts to show the difference: We see sunglasses, a sun hat, and, most tellingly, a lot of people who have taken off their overcoats.

Weather Extremes

Fitting with Wimbledon’s early reputation for being wet, most of the championship’s precipitation records were set early in the 20th century. According to the Met Office, the single wettest day in tournament history happened on June 28, 1906, when 2.46 inches fell at Kew Gardens.

The wettest overall championship, meanwhile, was played in 1927, with 3.29 inches of rain recorded at Raynes Park over 14 days. This, mind you, was well before the advent of retractable roofs.

When it comes to hot and cold, both the hottest and coldest recorded days in championship history have occurred fairly recently. The lowest minimum recorded temperature was a downright frigid 40.82 degrees Fahrenheit on June 22, 1999, while the hottest day in Wimbledon history was played 10 years ago on July 1, 2015, when temperatures soared to 96.26 degrees at Kew Gardens.

As you can see from the crowd photo below, the difference in the weather is clear from the shorts and short sleeves almost everyone in the crowd was wearing that day.

What’s In Store This Year?

This year’s tournament looks set to serve up some serious Wimbledon weather of both stripes: Hot and wet. Things will start off very hot, with temperatures roughly 20 degrees above average today and tomorrow, but temperatures will cool back closer to the seasonal average Wednesday through Friday. There is some chance of showers during that part of the week, but it's highly uncertain if any rain will materialize or not, so it's best to keep informed with updates for now. Here’s a look at what we’re expecting.

Whether you’re attending some matches or just enjoying the spectacle from afar, here’s hoping for good weather and a great tournament this week and next.

Senior writer Chris DeWeese edits Morning Brief, The Weather Channel’s newsletter.