26 May 2026

The UK record for the hottest May day has been broken for a second day in a row, as parts of London surpassed 35C on Tuesday.

Kew Gardens in south-west London recorded a provisional temperature of 35.1C, beating Monday's 34.8C record-high in the same place.

Wales also broke May records for a consecutive day, as provisional temperatures reached 32.3C at Cardiff's Bute Park, surpassing Monday's 32.2C at Hawarden Airport in Flintshire.

It comes as police are warning people to take care in open water after five young people and one man drowned in separate incidents in the past few days.

On Tuesday evening a body was recovered from River Ribble, Lancashire Police said. Emergency services had launched a search earlier in the day for a boy, aged 12, who got into difficulty while swimming with friends.

Another body was recovered from the water of Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a teenage boy went missing.

On Monday, a 13-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty while in a reservoir in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and at Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire the body of a teenage girl was recovered in the evening.

At Tregirls Beach near Padstow, Cornwall, a man in his 60s died on Monday after running into the sea to help two relatives who got into difficulty, police said.

And on Sunday, police said 15-year-old Declan Sawyer died at a lake in Lincoln.

The Royal Life Saving Society has urged people to stay safe and warned that "warmer weather unfortunately sees an increase in accidental drownings".

The charity also said that while air temperatures are hot, water temperatures remain very cold, as the Met Office warned people of potential "cold shock" as sea and other open water temperatures are much lower than the highs being felt during the heatwave.

Before Monday and Tuesday's record-breaking highs, May's warmest day in the UK was 32.8C in 1922 and 1944.

"Until yesterday, the highest temperature in May was 32.8C, but we've now exceeded that record on consecutive days by a full two degrees Celsius," the Met Office posted on X.

Six amber heat health alerts issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) cover much of England and will be active until Thursday.

The alert warns that significant impacts are likely across health and social care services, with increased demand caused by the high temperatures.

Much of England and Wales are in an official heatwave as of Tuesday. A location has to reach a threshold temperature - 25C for northern and western areas and 28C in London and Home Counties - for three days in a row.

This early season heat is consistent with the long-term trend of rising temperatures because of human-caused climate change.

The Met Office's chief operational meteorologist Dan Suri also said the high temperatures were due to "the influence of warmth building under an area of high pressure near the UK".

Network Rail imposed a series of speed restrictions on tracks to keep trains safe. National Rail said heat could see overhead lines expand and sag and cause rails to buckle.

South Western Railway (SWR) warned that train services running across its whole network may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised due to issues including heat-related speed restrictions.

High track temperatures disrupted LNER services between Peterborough and London Kings Cross.

There was also major disruption to Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern networks.

Meanwhile in Kent, dozens of homes have been left with little or no water for the third day.

The outages began on Saturday and peaked on Sunday when about 800 properties in the villages of Charing, Challock and Molash were unable to get water.

South East Water said teams were working hard to restore drinking water supplies across the region following "high demand during the exceptionally hot weather", which led to "storage reservoirs running low in parts of Kent".

The Met Office also issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms in England until 22:00 on Tuesday.

A second yellow weather warning for thunderstorms was issued later on Tuesday for the parts of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Peterborough and Suffolk until 02:00.

The Met Office said there was a "small chance" of flooding and powercuts, with heavy rain and "frequent lightning" expected.