Today is the hottest May day since records began

35 degrees Celsius recorded at Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport

The record for the hottest May day has been broken again, with provisional temperatures reaching 35C in London, the Met Office has said.

Temperatures on Tuesday surpassed Monday’s provisional all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature of 34.8C recorded in Kew Gardens in south-west London.

In a post on X, the Met Office said: “Today is now the hottest day in May on record with Heathrow and Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 35.0C.

“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.”

It comes amid health and thunderstorm warnings across the country, as well as a series of open-water fatalities in the past few days.

Police forces in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Devon and Cornwall were all called out to separate fatal incidents involving four teenagers and one man in his 60s.

Train services across Britain are also being disrupted as temperatures soar, with Network Rail imposing a series of speed restrictions on tracks to keep trains safe.

Published: 26/05/2026 by Radio NewsHub