The UK smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heatwave continued to scorch parts of western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life.
Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down.
A temperature of 35.1 degrees was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens, Britain’s Met Office weather service said, breaking the 34.8 degree record set a day earlier at Kew. The provisional readings smashed the long-standing record of 32.8 degrees set in 1922 and matched in 1944.
London also recorded a rare “tropical night”, defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20 degrees.
Records also fell in France, where temperatures reached 36 degrees on Monday in the country’s southwest and widely remained above 20 degrees at night.
The national weather service, Meteo-France, said a “heat dome,” with heat held in place by a high-pressure weather front, was producing temperatures more than 10 degrees above what is usual for this time of year.
