The record for the hottest May day has been broken again, with provisional temperatures reaching 35C in London, the Met Office has said. Temperatures on Tuesday surpassed Monday’s provisional all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature of 34.8C recorded in Kew Gardens in south-west London.
In a post on X, the Met Office said: “Today is now the hottest day in May on record with Heathrow and Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 35.0C. Until yesterday the highest temperature in May was 32.8C, but we’ve now exceeded that record on consecutive days by a full two degrees Celsius.”
It comes amid health and thunderstorm warnings across the country, as well as a series of open-water fatalities in the past few days. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said amber heat-health alerts for the South West, South East, London, East and West Midlands and the East of England will remain in place until 5pm on Thursday, with yellow heat-health alerts for the North West and North East.
The Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for parts of the South West, West Midlands, East Midlands and East of England between 3pm and 10pm on Tuesday. Isolated thunderstorms with lightning, hail and gusty winds are expected, while there is potential for 30mm of rain in less than an hour.
Police forces in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Devon and Cornwall were all called out to separate fatal incidents, involving four teenagers and one man in his 60s. It has led the RNLI to warn of the “very real risk” of swimming in open water during the heatwave. The charity said that while temperatures have hit record highs for May, water temperatures remained low and this could lead to cold water shock.
The National Fire Chiefs Council has also issued a water safety warning and urged families to speak to children about the risks of unsupervised swimming in rivers, lakes, quarries, canals and reservoirs. Train services across Britain are also being disrupted as temperatures soar, with Network Rail imposing a series of speed restrictions on tracks to keep trains safe. South Western Railway (SWR) issued a general alert to all passengers, saying that services across its entire network “may be revised” because of the hot weather on Tuesday.
The UK experienced a “tropical night” on Monday as the record for the warmest minimum temperature for May was broken for the second consecutive day. Temperatures did not fall below 20C overnight on Monday in parts of the UK, with 21.3C recorded at Kenley Airfield, south London.
Met Office chief forecaster Andy Page said the “exceptional” late-spring heat will continue for much of this week, with more “tropical nights” expected. “Last night provisionally recorded the warmest May night on record, and we’re likely to see further very warm nights in the south over the coming days,” he said. “There is a chance a few places will experience a ‘tropical night’ in the south of England and in Wales tonight, which is where temperatures don’t fall below 20C.”
The highest temperatures will shift westwards on Wednesday, with northern areas feeling more of the warmth on Thursday, Mr Page said. Temperatures will return to near-normal by Sunday and there will be an increased chance of showers, he added.
