The UK set its highest ever May temperature for the second day in a row on Tuesday, with thermometers climbing to 35.1C at Heathrow and Kew Gardens in London.
The reading came after Monday’s provisional spring peak of 34.8C at Kew Gardens, and it pushed aside a May record of 32.8C that had stood since 1922. For readers checking weather london, the reason is plain: the capital has become the centre of a national heat event that is rewriting the record books while people are still deciding whether to stay indoors or head out.
The latest heat also spread well beyond London. The Met Office said many places across England and Wales reached the heatwave threshold on Tuesday, while amber heat-health alerts covered the south-west, south-east, London, the East and West Midlands and the west of England until 5pm on Thursday. Yellow alerts remained in place for the north-west and north-east, and the south-west alert was raised to amber as the hot spell tightened its grip on the country.
But the picture was never simply one of blue skies and sun cream. The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across England from 3pm to 10pm on Tuesday, saying isolated storms with lightning, hail and gusty winds could affect large parts of the country. It also warned there was potential for as much as 30mm of rainfall in an hour in some places, even as many areas were expected to stay hot and sunny.
That contrast is what made Tuesday unusual: a country hot enough to set records, but unsettled enough for storms to break out in the middle of the day. The UK had already endured a tropical night on Monday, with Kenley airfield in south London recording 21.3C overnight, and some places were expected to stay in heatwave conditions for five days by Wednesday, according to Becky Mitchell.
The immediate question now is how long the combination of heat and unstable air lasts. The thunderstorm warning was due to end at 10pm Tuesday, but the health alerts stay in force until Thursday afternoon, leaving much of England and Wales under pressure from the same weather pattern that has already broken a May record twice in 48 hours.
