London experienced a "tropical night" on Monday, marking the second consecutive day a May record for the highest daily minimum temperature was shattered.
Temperatures at Kenley Airfield in south London remained above 21.3C throughout the night. This follows the UK recording its hottest May day since Met Office records began. Kew Gardens in south-west London provisionally registered the UK's all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature at 34.8C on Monday.
The Met Office listed 12 locations where the record was topped on Monday – ranging from Suffolk to Berkshire to Warwickshire – while 97 of its monitoring sites reached or surpassed 30C.
The UK’s previous warmest May night was measured on Sunday when temperatures did not fall below 19.4C at Kenley Airfield.
Meanwhile, the hottest May temperature could be broken again on Tuesday with an expected high of 35C across large swathes of southern England and Wales – which could even creep up to 36C, the Met Office said.
Those forecasts span the Midlands, the south-east and south-west of England, East Anglia and South Wales.
Thunderstorms could be sparked in the afternoon, which would affect how hot it gets, the Met Office added.
The expected high for large swathes of southern England and Wales on Tuesday is 35C – which could creep up to 36C, senior Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said on Monday.
“So it’s a trickier one to predict the temperatures for tomorrow, definitely potential for it to be hotter,” Ms Mitchell said.
Heatwave conditions were already met in eight parts of England by Sunday night: Heathrow, Kew Gardens and Northolt London; Benson in Oxfordshire; Brooms Barn and Santon Downham in Suffolk; High Beech and Writtle in Essex.
That number will be higher after the bank holiday weather but the data is yet to be released, Ms Mitchell said.
The fact nearly a hundred sites reached 30C on Monday “goes to show just how many places would have succeeded their heatwave threshold”, she added.
To qualify as a heatwave, temperatures must meet or surpass a specific threshold for three consecutive days.
The highest heatwave threshold in the UK at this time of year is 28C, which applies to London and north of the capital towards Cambridgeshire.
A previous study by the forecasters found breaking that record “is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in a natural climate not impacted by greenhouse gas emissions”.
This means that the once one-in-a-hundred year event is now a one-in-33 event, it said.
It comes after last week saw lows of minus 5C in Scotland and daytime temperatures more widely peaked at about 14C to 15C.
“We see these changes happening so much more dramatically,” Met Office senior forecaster Greg Dewhurst said on Monday morning, adding that climate change is boosting the heat.
“In the past, heatwaves built and built and built and built over days and days and days – these now just develop so quickly.”
Amid the bank holiday weekend heat, South East Water apologised and handed out bottled water after about 502 of its customers had issues including outages and low pressure.
Meanwhile, fire and smoke spread across a large patch of Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, above St Anthony’s Chapel on Monday.
On Sunday, Lincolnshire Police said the body of 15-year-old Declan Sawyer was recovered from the water at Swanholme Lakes, Lincoln, after he had been reported to be in trouble that afternoon.
The May high record was surpassed in: Heathrow, Greater London (34.4C); Northolt, Greater London (34.2C); Teddington Bushy Park, Middlesex (34C); Benson, Oxfordshire (33.6C); Wisley, Surrey (33.3C); Reading University, Berkshire (33.2C); Wellesbourne, Warwickshire (33.2C); Cippenham, Berkshire (33.0C); Brize Norton, Oxfordshire (32.9C); Charlwood, Surrey (32.9C); Houghton Hall, Norfolk (32.9C) and Santon Downham, Suffolk (32.9C).
It was matched at Marham, Norfolk and Woburn, Bedfordshire.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued its first amber health alert of 2026 on Friday, warning that there is a risk of a significant impact across health and social care services. The alert will remain in place until Wednesday.
Meanwhile the AA warned that the interior of vehicles can reach 60C on a day when the outside temperature is 27C.
The heat is considered to be dangerous for some vulnerable groups including older adults as their bodies struggle to regulate temperature.
Age UK recommended staying inside during the hottest hours of the day, between 11am and 3pm, and having regular cold baths or showers.
