London [UK], May 27: The record for the hottest May day in England has been broken again, with provisional temperatures surpassing 35 degrees Celsius in London, the Met Office has said.
Temperatures on Tuesday exceeded Monday's provisional all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature of 34.8 degrees Celsius recorded in Kew Gardens in south-western 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 35 degrees Celsius, 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." The Met Office said 34 degrees Celsius was surpassed at Bushy Park, western London; Santon Downham, Suffolk; Northolt, north-western London; Cippenham, Berkshire; and Wellesbourne, Warwickshire.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said the "exceedingly hot" temperatures were "exceptional." Burkill added: "It really is an exceptionally warm or very hot spell at the moment."
"For any time of the year it's hot, but for May in particular - it is still meteorological spring." "In terms of how groundbreaking, how historic it is - it's very similar to that first time that we reached 40C." "The fact that we've exceeded the May temperature by such an amount really is extraordinary and quite worrying."
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-western 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." Avanti Western Coast said train services running to and from London Euston station may be "cancelled or delayed" because of a points failure.
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 (1600 GMT) on Thursday, with yellow heat-health alerts for the North West and North East.
French heatwave results in seven deaths so far
Seven people have died in connection with a heatwave in France, including at least five cases of drowning, government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told broadcaster TF1 on Tuesday.
The seven deaths were "directly or indirectly linked to the heat," she said. Two other people died during sports events in Paris and the greater Lyon area.
Meteo France forecasted maximum temperatures of between 33 degrees Celsius and 36C for Tuesday. On Monday it said record temperatures for May had been reached.
The government urged people to exercise caution.
Eight departments in western France were on orange alert due to the heatwave, with the hot weather expected to continue until at least the end of the week in northern and western France.
Source: Qatar Tribune