The UK is set for a slight reprieve from the scorching heatwave that has gripped the nation, following days of record-breaking temperatures and the deaths of six people who got into trouble in the water.
The Met Office confirmed Tuesday marked the hottest May day on record for both England and Wales, with Kew Gardens provisionally hitting 35.1C and Cardiff Bute Park reaching 32.9C.
However, cloud cover and a developing easterly wind are expected to bring a “reduction in temperature highs for many areas” from Wednesday.
Despite this, parts of south-west England could still experience highs of 32C-33C.
London and the East Midlands are forecast to see 32C on Thursday, with Friday potentially reaching 30C in the capital and East Anglia.
By Sunday, the warmest air is anticipated to have moved south, bringing temperatures closer to, but mostly still above, the seasonal average across the UK.
People have died after struggling in open water in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire in recent days.
Declan Sawyer, 15, died after getting into trouble at Swanholme Lakes, Lincoln, on Sunday.
A 13-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Monday and the body of a teenage girl was recovered from the water at Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said the teenage boy was pulled from the water and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The same day, a man in his 60s died of cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach, Padstow, to help two family members who were in difficulty, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
The body of a fourth teenager was recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, South Yorkshire Police said.
And on Tuesday evening, Lancashire Police said a body had been recovered from the River Ribble after a 12-year-old boy got into difficulty while swimming with friends at Ribchester.
There was a further death in Ireland where Gardai said a teenage girl died in the sea at Burrow Beach, a popular swimming spot near Howth, on Sunday.
Ireland has also seen record-breaking May temperatures with 30.5C recorded in provisional data on Tuesday, according to Met Eireann.
The RNLI warned of the “very real risk” of swimming in open water during the heatwave.
The charity said that while temperatures have hit record highs for May, water temperatures remained low and this could lead to cold water shock.
The National Fire Chiefs Council has also issued a water safety warning and urged families to speak to children about the risks of unsupervised swimming in rivers, lakes, quarries, canals and reservoirs.
Train services across Britain were disrupted as temperatures soared, with Network Rail imposing a series of speed restrictions on tracks to keep trains safe on Tuesday.
The UK experienced a “tropical night” on Monday as the record for the warmest minimum temperature for May was broken for the second consecutive day.
Temperatures did not fall below 20C overnight on Monday in parts of the UK, with 21.3C recorded at Kenley Airfield, south London.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said the “exceedingly hot” temperatures were “exceptional”.
Mr Burkill added: “It really is an exceptionally warm or very hot spell at the moment.
“For any time of the year it’s hot, but for May in particular – it is still meteorological spring.
“In terms of how ground-breaking, how historic it is – it’s very similar to that first time that we reached 40C.
“The fact that we’ve exceeded the May temperature by such an amount really is extraordinary and quite worrying.”
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said amber heat-health alerts for the South West, South East, London, East and West Midlands and the East of England will remain in place until 5pm on Thursday, with yellow heat-health alerts for the North West and North East.
The Met Office said a climate attribution study published last summer by its scientists found that the chances of surpassing the May temperature record “have been increasing as our climate changes as a consequence of human greenhouse gas emissions”.
The study found that breaking the previous 32.8C May record was “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”.
