A severe heatwave in Western Europe is shattering temperature records – including in the United Kingdom, where temperatures exceeded 40℃ on Tuesday for the first time on record.
The village of Coningsby in eastern England reached 40.3℃ – provisionally the hottest temperature in UK history. The record was previously held by Cambridge, which reached 38.7℃ in 2019.
I’m a scientist interested in climate change and extreme weather. I grew up in the UK and remember major heatwaves in 2003 and 2006 during my school holidays.
