London was on Tuesday sweltering in temperatures higher than Ibiza with the mercury set to nudge 30C after yesterday’s glorious sunshine gave way to storms which brought flood chaos.
The heatwave shows no sign of abating with forecasters predicting unbroken sunshine for the rest of the week.
The hottest temperature in the capital was recorded at Heathrow at 30.5C at the weekend and the mercury is expected to rise to hit at least 29C on Tuesday.
London will be hotter than Ibiza which will have temperatures around 25C and many will be heading to sun-drenched parks or lidos. The scene contrasts with the storms which brought lashing rain and giant hailstones on Monday.
A Marks & Spencer outlet in Brent Cross shopping centre in north west London flooded with dramatic scenes shared on social media.
The road outside the shopping centre was also flooded huge tailbacks caused by the massive downpour.
Other retailers to be hit were Waitrose with with water pouring through the ceiling of its Buckingham store with images showing staff swinging into action to enure everyone was safe as the storm took its toll.
Parts of the ceiling collapsed due to the volume of the water lashing the roof of the supermarket and wiring could be seen hanging down as water poured in.
Meanwhile traffic was brought to a standstill in Golders Green Road as the flood waters left drivers stranded. Pictures on social media showed vehicles with wheels submerged and frustarted drivers waiting for the deluge to ease.
Hailstones the size of golf balls hit some areas with people frantically taking cover to escape injury.
The torrential rain temporarily halted the Manchester City trophy parade, which celebrated the club winning the treble, with the start time pushed back half an hour to 7pm due to the downpours.
More than 15,000 easyjet passengers suffered delays and cancellations as the severe weather wreaked havoc.
Elsewhere across the country, thousands of homes were hit with power outages - with the south west of England being hit most severely.
Northern parts of Scotland, near to Inverness, suffered from power shortages following a series of thunderstorms.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said four fire engines were called to a house in Lytham St Annes on Monday night after a lightning strike caused the roof to catch on fire.
According to the National Grid’s Twitter account, a number of areas suffered outages throughout the day.
But the storm clouds have now parted ushering a new spell of sizzling weather according to forecasters.
Met Office forecaster and meteorologist Simon Partridge said the worst of the thunderstorms was now passed and drier weather was expected going into the latter parts of the week.
He said: “We’ve got high pressure starting to rebuild over the course of the day and when you get high pressure that’s what gives us lots of dry, settled weather, like what we’ve had over the last couple of weeks. That’s becoming more established tomorrow and through the week so we will see a lot of the country (on Tuesday) be dry with sunny spells.
“The thunderstorms have gradually been working their way westwards over the last couple of days because the area of the warmest and most humid air has drifted its way westwards, as a result... we’re expecting to see thunderstorms across parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland. A few heavy rain spells are possible and could see some heavy downpours so there is the potential to see 20mm-plus of rain over a couple of hours, so not as much as we’ve seen over the last couple of days but certainly enough that anyone travelling will have to be aware.”
However, with the scorching temperatures London Mayor Sadiq Khan has asked people to do their part to stop themselves contributing to the pollution levels.He said: “Pollution and heat can be a dangerous combination, which is why I’m urging Londoners to look after themselves and each other by choosing to walk, cycle or take public transport, avoid unnecessary car journeys, stop their engines idling and refrain from burning wood or garden waste, all of which contribute to high levels of pollution.
“This is particularly important in order to protect those who are most vulnerable and help us to build a safer and greener London for all.”
