UK hits 35.1 °C May record at Heathrow, Kew
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- Met Office recorded the UK's highest ever May temperature of 35.1 °C at Heathrow and Kew Gardens, surpassing the previous 32.8 °C record set in 1922.
- Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across England on Tuesday, warning of isolated storms, lightning, hail, gusty winds and up to 30 mm of rain in an hour, effective 3 pm‑10 pm.
- UK Health Security Agency kept amber alerts for the south‑west, south‑east, London, East and West Midlands and the west of England, and raised the south‑west alert from yellow to amber, with alerts lasting until 5 pm Thursday.
- National Fire Chiefs Council issued a water‑safety warning after a series of deaths, including four teenagers, a 13‑year‑old in West Yorkshire, a 15‑year‑old in Lincoln, a teenage girl in Warwickshire, a man in Cornwall and a 12‑year‑old in Lancashire.
- Friederike Otto of Imperial College London warned that the record‑breaking heat has “the fingerprints of climate change” and that UK buildings and infrastructure are “woefully unprepared” for such conditions.
- Stephen Burt reported a record monthly temperature range of 32.9 °C in May, from a -0.1 °C frost on 12 May to a 32.8 °C high in Reading, surpassing the previous record set in May 1944.
- Met Office study found that breaking the May record is now about three times more likely in the current climate than in a natural climate, shifting a one‑in‑100‑year event to roughly a one‑in‑33‑year event.
Why it matters: Public health agencies and emergency services face heightened demand as heat‑related illnesses and drowning incidents surge, while the Met Office’s record‑breaking temps underscore the climate‑driven escalation of heatwaves that outpace UK infrastructure, putting residents and local authorities at immediate risk.
