The record for the hottest May day has been broken again, with provisional temperatures surpassing 35C in London, the Met Office has said.
Temperatures on Tuesday exceeded 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 for both England and Wales with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 35.1°C and Cardiff Bute Park reaching 32.9°C.”
The weather service said Heathrow had also provisionally recorded 35C, adding: “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.”
Train services across Britain were disrupted as temperatures soared, with Network Rail imposing a series of speed restrictions on tracks to keep trains safe.
South Western Railway (SWR) said all lines on its network were disrupted “due to multiple signalling faults, track defects and heat-related speed restrictions”.
The train operator runs commuter services from Waterloo to south- west London, suburban services in Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Dorset, as well as regional services in Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire.
In an update on its website, SWR, which also operates services on the Isle of Wight, said: “Train services running across the whole South Western Railway network may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.
“Disruption is expected until the end of the day.”
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.
On Tuesday afternoon, Lancashire Police said searches were under way after a boy got into difficulty while swimming in a river in the Ribble Valley.
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.
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.
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