Unaffected by cloud and with a draw off the near continent the temperature continues to climb. 33.6c currently.

Just went out in the garden and it still feels pretty hot even under thick grey cloud.

I suppose it's a sign of the times that 36C feels quite disappointing!

Northolt is still climbing, btw - now 35.7

Heathrow and Kew at 36.4C - The hottest August day since 2003.

That's actually astonishing record in itself and goes to show how rubbish August have been.

Not much of a jump above the hourly readings then. I guess that's our lot - the cloud just came in too quickly.

And with the rest of the week's heatwave seemingly disappearing with every model run it looks like it's down to the thunderstorms next week to salvage any excitement.

Those jet engines are getting bigger and bigger!

Doubt it. Too many heatwaves these days end in a damp squib. At least in this part of the world.

Its a real shame that everything has gone a bit Pete tong. I was expecting much less cloud today.

The cloud was well forecast well in advance, even the EC had it from 2-3 days ago. Speaking of which, the EC has done a great job predicting the pattern (6 days of >30C, very warm nights, thunderstorms next week etc.). It never showed record breaking heat in terms of daily max, but this is still a remarkable heatwave.

At 16:28 we had 35.5c 

Let's put today and last Friday behind us and enjoy the rest of the heatwave which, at any normal time, would be quite exciting. Anything above mid 20s makes a change from this summer's generally disappointing dross. ICON 12z, which had today maxing at 35C in London, shows the following for the next 5 days:

Sat: 35C London and South coast as far west as Dorset

Sun: 32C in Sussex with 31C in London and rest of South coast

Mon: 31C London and Dorset, 30C widely elsewhere

Tues: 30C Dorset, 29C widely elsewhere

The rot sets in on Wed on ICON, so that's 6 days straight of 30C+ maxes. GFS had it cooling down from Thursday. Let's see if we can still squeeze in a hot day on Wed. With 28.4C this Wednesday that would be an 8 day heatwave, which isn't bad. Just not as extreme as 35C 5 days in a row as GFS was showing yesterday.

I peaked at 34.1c. Another remarkable day.

The disgusting grey dross has arrived here. Pathetic 

Very very close Darren 10mph sse feels like Jires shed now

https://www.chelmervillage-weather.co.uk/

Most of the time there is a GFS 'bias' here. It made sense a few years ago, but not any more as the EC is widely available and there are also good high res models like Arome etc. available.

34.1c, same here. I did see it hit 34.2c for a few seconds but not picked up on the logger. My diurnal temp range record has gone though as 22.2c, pretty safe to say tonight won't get down that far, maybe a record warm night for me as well. 29.1c here now, feels muggy with only 42% humidity.

And will be 28c at 23:00 in London just said on N24

The uppers are the same as they ever were.

850Hpa's typically 18c, 925's of 24c and thicknesses circa 570dam with a 950 flow from the continental ESE.

Its cloud cover that is causing the differing T2 maxes model projections.

We all know that in these situations things can and will change at very short notice.

A 2 hour burst of sunshine will easily send the temperature from 30 to 36c in such a set up.

Apart from a rather cooler Estuary flow on Sunday for some eastern coasts the situation remains hot until Wednesday.

Remain on guard...IMO 38c is still very much achievable.

Generally the Met don't send out the afternoon tweet until they are fairly confident everywhere has peaked. I suppose there's a chance of a manual station going higher but I think it's fairly likely 36.4C will be the final score.

I think that puts it equal 8th for the hottest days on record (at least since 1900).

1) 38.7C - 25 July 2019

2) 38.5C - 10 August 2003

3) 37.8C - 31 July 2020

4) 37.1C - 3 August 1990

5=) 36.7C - 9 August 1911
5=) 36.7C - 1 July 2015

7) 36.5C - 19 July 2006

8=) 36.4C - 6 August 2003
8=) 36.4C - 7 August 2020 (TBC)

Two top 10 days within a week is not a bad showing even if the grey cloud makes it feel rather anticlimactic.

Think of it as a toasty warm blanket for tonight.

The bias is down to the frequency with which the runs come out. It’s the only model that publishes 4 times a day out to 384 hours. 

Meanwhile it’s now completely clouded over in Brockley yet is still roasting. It must be close to the hottest ever temperature under overcast conditions in Britain. 

27 given for London at almost midnight 

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/gfs/temperatures-2m/9h.htm