The Met Office has announced that the record for the hottest June day has been broken again, for the third day in a row. The hottest-ever June temperature has been recorded in Wattisham, Suffolk, with the mercury hitting 36.9C.
This is even higher than the previous record, which was set on Thursday (June 25), when 36.7C was recorded in Merryfield, Somerset. This temperature surpassed Wednesday’s 36.1C, which was recorded at Gosport, Hampshire – a record which had stood since June 1976. Wednesday night also saw the UK record its warmest June night on record, where overnight temperatures in Cardiff did not drop below 23.5C. The previous record was also set in 1976, at 22.7C. The announcement comes as a large part of England comes under a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms, active from 2pm today (June 26). The weather warning covers areas in North East England, North West England and the Yorkshire & Humber and will remain in place until 9pm on Friday.
The warning, issued at 9.45am this morning, reads: “Whilst most places will miss them, scattered thunderstorms may break out this afternoon and early evening. Where storms do occur, heavy rain, large hail, gusty winds and frequent lightning are all possible with 15 to 30 mm rain falling in a short space of time in a few places.”
Meanwhile, the Met Office extended its red extreme heat warning through to 9pm on Friday for London and parts of east/southeast England, marking an unprecedented three consecutive days of red alerts for June. Amber extreme heat warnings remain in place across much of eastern and southern England as the historic heatwave continues.
Similar yellow thunderstorm warnings are in place for parts of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the rest of England, bringing risks of torrential rain, frequent lightning, hail and sudden 50 to 60 mph gusts.