Britain recorded its hottest day in May on Monday, with temperatures approaching 35 degrees Celsius, the Met Office confirmed, shattering long-standing national records.
The temperature reached 34.8C (94.64F) at Kew Gardens in west London, provisionally surpassing the previous May record of 32.8C, which had stood since both 1922 and 1944.
Monday also became the hottest public holiday recorded in Britain since Met Office UK-wide records began in 1884, beating a previous high of 33.3C set in August 2019.
The Met Office described the conditions as extraordinary, stating: “This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid summer, let alone in May.”
A study published last year found that human greenhouse gas emissions made surpassing the previous 32.8C May record three times more likely, according to the Met Office.
The record-breaking temperatures drew crowds across the country, with swimmers flocking to open air pools and pedestrians cooling off in public fountains throughout London and beyond.
Near the village of Brockworth in south-west England, competitors took part in the annual cheese-rolling contest, braving both the intense heat and a steep hill in the traditional event.
The previous UK-wide public holiday temperature record of 33.3C had been set in August 2019, meaning Monday’s reading exceeded that mark by more than one and a half degrees Celsius.
The Met Office noted that the records broken on Monday apply both specifically to May and to public holidays as a category, representing two separate historic milestones recorded on the same day.
Climate scientists have increasingly linked the frequency of such extreme heat events in the UK to the long-term warming effects of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
The readings at Kew Gardens remain provisional at this stage, pending full verification and quality checks carried out by the Met Office following the submission of station data.
Britain has now recorded several significant heat milestones in recent years, with summers and now spring months producing temperatures that would historically have been considered highly unusual for the country’s climate.