Temperatures soar to 38C as amber extreme heat warning in effect
Kew Gardens provisionally reached 38.1C on Thursday as the peak of the UK's fifth heatwave of the year arrived. A rare amber extreme heat warning covers a large swathe of the country, and accompanying health alerts warn of significant strain on health and social care, including a rise in deaths, particularly among people aged 65 and over or with existing conditions. Increasingly humid air could also bring a tropical night in places, with temperatures staying uncomfortably warm until morning. It is the 38th day this year on which somewhere in the UK has passed 30C, well beyond the previous record of 34 days, though the heat should ease by the weekend.
What it shows: Reported by BBC News (science & environment) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.