The United Kingdom experienced its eighth day since the start of the year on Thursday with a temperature peak above 34°C, a record, the national weather agency said.
A temperature of 34.4°C was recorded in Wisley, Surrey, in the south of England, setting “a new record for the highest number of days at 34°C or more in a calendar year”, the Met Office said on X.
The previous record was seven days, reached in both 2020 and 1976.
England recorded its hottest June since weather records began in 1884, with a temperature record broken for several days in a row.
Western Europe also experienced its hottest June on record, beating the previous record set last year, the European Union’s climate monitoring service said Thursday.
Scientists warn that extreme weather events such as heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense due to human-induced climate change.
The Met Office also warned on Thursday that “a marine heatwave is underway”, with sea surface temperatures reaching 18C in the North Sea, off the south-east coast of England.
The day before, she had indicated that the surface temperature had reached “extreme” levels in the English Channel in the north of Brittany.
