Britons are set to melt on the hottest UK day on record as temperatures are predicted to hit 40C in parts of England amid growing travel chaos. It comes after the mercury peaked at 38.1C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Monday, making it the hottest day of the year and the third hottest day on record, after 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019 and 38.5C in Faversham, Kent, in August 2003.
The mercury will sizzle at possible highs of 41C in isolated areas today, making the country hotter than Jamaica, the Maldives and Barbados. Rail users have been warned of delays, cancellations and changes to train services.
Rachel Ayers, a Met Office forecaster, said: “The temperature will be very hot throughout the day, before rising as high as 40C, maybe even 41C in isolated spots across England during the afternoon. This will make it the hottest day on record."
Scotland and Wales could also see their hottest days on record. Most routes across England and Wales will be affected by the hot weather today, according to National Rail, with customers told only to travel if “absolutely necessary”.
There will be no Thameslink or Great Northern trains running in any location north of London, from London Blackfriars via St Pancras, or from London King’s Cross or London Moorgate. Merseyrail said the number of trains running and journey times will be “seriously affected”, with some routes closed completely.
LNER will run no trains from south of York and south of Leeds to London King’s Cross. Southern, South Eastern, South Western Railway and Great Western Railway are among the dozens of train companies running significantly reduced services.
Transport for London (TfL) said London’s rail network would also be running a reduced service due to safety restrictions put into place to deal with the heat. Elsewhere, council gritters were on stand-by to spread light dustings of sand on melting roads.
The RAC anticipated that the number of vehicle breakdowns on Monday and Tuesday could be up to a fifth higher than normal. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has a high pollution alert in place in the eastern parts of England and the East Midlands, meaning EU ozone pollution thresholds have been exceeded.
News of the weather's impact comes as a 14-year-old boy is missing and believed to have drowned on Monday afternoon after getting into difficulty in the Thames in Richmond, west London. The teenager was seen entering the water at Tagg’s Island in Hampton and, after a search took place, he was presumed dead, with officers calling the incident a “tragedy”.
Emergency services and the Government have reiterated urgent warnings about the dangers of trying to keep cool after several tragedies in waterways and reservoirs during the heatwave. The family of 13-year-old Robert Hattersley said they were “absolutely devastated” after he died when he got into trouble in the River Tyne in Northumberland on Sunday.
Emergency services also confirmed the deaths of a 16-year-old boy in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, a 16-year-old boy in Bray Lake near Maidenhead, Berkshire, and a 50-year-old man in a reservoir near Leeds in similar circumstances. There have been warnings of pressures on hospitals from the extreme temperatures.
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