Britain recorded its highest ever temperature of 40C (104F) on Tuesday as a heatwave gripping Europe intensified, scorching fields and damaging airport runways and train tracks.
The Met Office said the provisional record, which still needs to be confirmed, was recorded at 12.50 pm (1150 GMT) at London’s Heathrow Airport, surpassing the previous record of 38.7C recorded in 2019.
Train routes were cancelled, normally busy city centres appeared quiet and zoos struggled to keep their animals cool.
“For the first time ever, 40 Celsius has provisionally been exceeded in the UK,” the Met Office said. “Temperatures are still climbing in many places, so remember to stay weather aware.”
The forecaster will need to validate the equipment used to record any record temperature before it becomes official.
Britain, which can struggle to maintain key transport services in extreme heat or the snow, has been put on a state of “national emergency” over the unprecedented temperatures.
Transport minister Grant Shapps said it would be many years before Britain could fully upgrade its infrastructure to cope with higher temperatures, after at least two runways showed signs of damage and some train tracks buckled.
“We’ve seen a considerable amount of travel disruption,” he told the BBC. “Infrastructure, much of which was built from the Victorian times, just wasn’t built to withstand this type of temperature.”
