Today’s heatwave has twice broken the record for the all-time warmest temperature for May after parts of London hit 34.8℃.
The peak was recorded at Kew Gardens in south-west London, a full two degrees Celsius higher than the benchmark before this bank holiday weekend.
Heathrow in west London had reached temperatures of 33.5℃ earlier this afternoon.
Parts of the UK are expected to get even hotter still, with highs of 34C or 35C forecast in the South and South East today and tomorrow.
The bank holiday weekend has already been a scorcher.
Sunday saw the country’s highest May temperature recorded in at least 79 years.
Last night was also the warmest May night on record. This is also the hottest bank holiday Monday on record – above the 33.3C seen in August 2019.
Jim NR Dale, a meteorologist with the British Weather Services, told Metro that to see temperatures in the 30s in Spring is ‘unprecedented’.
He said: ”The reasons are an initial waft of hot air out of Africa, then high pressure dominance, with unbroken insolation [sunshine] – and an added element of climate change, of that there’s no doubt.
‘The cold is on its way out and has been for 20 years… 30°C temps used to be an occasional visitor, sometimes not happening at all, even in summer.
‘Now it’s a regular event and 40°C is expected to become an occasional event from now on.’
Increased demand’ for water has left around 500 properties in Sussex and Kent with no water or facing water supply issues, South East Water has said.
A bottled water station has been opened in Challock Village Hall for affected customers.
A ‘heatdome’ is responsible for May’s heatwave, which is being felt across Europe, France’s Météo-France weather agency said.
Warm air is moving up from Northern Africa and becoming trapped under a high-pressure system over Western Europe.
The agency said heatdomes are becoming more common due to climate change.
Conditions for a heatwave have been met in eight parts of England so far today:
- Heathrow in Greater London
- Benson in Oxfordshire
- Brooms Barn in Suffolk
- High Beech in Essex
- Kew Gardens in London
- Northolt in London
- Santon Downham in Suffolk
- Writtle in Essex
A heatwave is when it’s hotter than normal, relative to the conditions of a region, for more than three days straight, the Met Office says.
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