Topline
The U.K. recorded its hottest ever temperature on Tuesday, according to provisional Met Office figures, as the country faces a second day of extreme heat amid warnings of wildfires and reports of melting roads.
The UK faces its hottest day on record Tuesday.
Key Facts
A temperature of 40.2C (104.4 Fahrenheit) has been provisionally recorded at London Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, the Met Office announced.
If confirmed, it will be the highest temperature ever recorded in the U.K.
It smashes an earlier provisional record of 39.1C (102.4 Fahrenheit) recorded at Charlwood, Surrey, in south east England, less than two hours earlier and the forecaster warned temperatures are likely to rise throughout the day.
The previous U.K. high of 38.7C (101.7 Fahrenheit) was recorded in 2019 in Cambridge.
The U.K. also experienced its warmest night on record Monday, according to provisional Met Office figures, with temperatures not falling below 25C (77 Fahrenheit) in some places.
Key Background
The U.K. is not accustomed to extreme heat nor is its infrastructure designed with such high temperatures in mind. Transport ground to a halt as roads and runways melted and railways buckled, hospitals canceled appointments and schools closed. Exceptionally few residential properties have air conditioning and many buildings, particularly older ones like hospitals, are not designed for higher temperatures and can get dangerously warm. Soaring temperatures in the U.K. are part of a broader heatwave afflicting Europe, with France also bracing for record temperatures. The extreme heat has sparked fierce wildfires across the continent in countries including Spain, Greece and France. Experts universally point to human-driven climate change as a contributing cause for the heat and warn that the worsening climate crisis means such events will become more frequent and more severe in the future.
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