Just yesterday, we touched on the record-breaking heat that the United Kingdom experienced over Bank Holiday Monday, with the country posting temperatures that shattered the former May and spring temperatures, setting a new standard for heat, the highest on record for the season and the month.
The hottest temperature that was registered was noticed at Kew Gardens in East London, where 34.8°C was picked up, a record that is around 2°C warmer than the formerly joint hottest days in May and spring, registered in 1922 and 1944, meaning the record has held for 82 years. It was just smashed for a second-day running...
We did note during yesterday's report that the data was provisional, both because the data needed verifying but also because May 26 (Tuesday) was expected to be a scorcher too, and boy it sure was.
The Met Office has now reported that May 26 topped out at 35.1°C in Kew Gardens, with Heathrow also registering a figure that bested Monday's record, with the area reaching 35.0°C. There were also several other areas that posted scorching temperatures, with Middlesex hitting 34.7°C, Warwickshire reaching 34.1°C, and Hereford & Worcester hitting 33.6°C.
This all comes as the transition between May 25 and 26 also gave us the highest minimum temperature for May ever, as even during the night, the heat didn't drop below 21.3°C at Kenley Airfield, making for a tropical night (where temperatures don't fall below 20°C).
Again, this data needs to be verified, so it remains a provisional record for the time being.