Getting that mid-afternoon surge in the heat with 31.3 c currently under hazy sun via paper-thin stratsocumulus. Too uncomfortable to sit outside so am indoors with a fan between my legs.

Its crazy. The heat has really surged here this afternoon. 

Keep an eye on Gosport Fleetlands. Temperature there has been surging in the past few hours. Now up to 33.7C at 1500.

Wind is offshore from the N so no issue with sea breeze as yet.

Frittenden has plunged nearly 4 degrees to 30.7. Barring a late surge from somewhere close to London - edit, or the Solent! - I think it’s a big fail today.

Just been a really nice summer day here, clear skies 22.8c, high 23.0c, perfect weather really.
I like a good heatwave and extreme temps but with these conditions here I can relax and not worry about breaking records.

Surprised at how cloudy it is at the cricket in Manchester.

Been staring at 29.9 for the last 20 minutes. It's almost too much to bear.

34c at 14:51 33.5c now at 15:30

Meanwhile I am getting that late afternoon surge with 32.3 c & 45% h currently with hazy milky sunshine. It's just . . . urgh.

Maximum here 29.8C a few minutes ago. The sun is quite strong now so I am fairly optimistic of getting above 30C within the next hour.

I can agree with this. I’ve come for a pint and I’m dripping with sweat just sitting down.

I have found the missing figure for 1 July 1976. The reason why it has not appeared in the Torro summary is because the reading was incorrectly logged in the Met Office's own monthly weather summary for July 1976 as occurring on 2 July instead of 1 July. So even the Met Office make mistakes, although they are clearly aware of it!

The date record for 1 July should be correctly stated as 35.0C at North Heath in West Sussex in 1976. I tracked this down in the Met Office archives.

I don't think tonight is going to be anywhere near as warm as last night. Arome going for 16C generally across the SE and maybe as high as 18C on the coast, but certainly nothing like 20+.

Arome going for 34C as a max tomorrow, a degree or so lower than it had for today (although more widespread eg across London). Today it had 35C in a fair chunk of Sussex which is probably correct but it was an area with no weather stations.

Monday is looking like the next really warm night with minima of 23C in places on the ARPEGE:

Last night dropped to 18.5C here in north portsmouth despite a forecasted low of 22C. I don't expect though temperatures to drop below 20C tonight after hitting 35C today. The wind is coming off the land so it will take a long time for temperatures to drop.

Lille AP 36.7C

Paris Orly AP 37.0C

I think cloud has really caused issues today with the models. If clearer tomorrow you have to assume things look better.

Take a look at the dew points on the Arome model. Currently around 20C across Hampshire which is why it is so stifling

http://modeles7.meteociel.fr/modeles/arome_uk1/runs/2020080806/aromehd-18-8-0.png?08-12

By 0500 tomorrow the dew point is down to around 14-15C in Hampshire.

http://modeles7.meteociel.fr/modeles/arome_uk1/runs/2020080806/aromehd-18-22-0.png?08-12

This morning the dew point was around 16C here. So I think overnight lows will be down a bit on last night generally.

Back up to 20C in Hampshire again tomorrow.

Props have to go to Arome which pretty well nailed this yesterday (subsequently backtracking a bit). It had the heat concentrated across Kent, Sussex and into southern Hampshire, with highs 33-34C there, which is exactly what has occurred. It called for a high of 29C here which I thought was laughably low given the other models but seems to be fairly spot on (actually just crept up to 29.5 in the last few mins)

Dew points of 15-16C are fairly typical during the summer down here along the southern coastline, even without a heatwave. As you say local stations have seen them up in the low 20's today which is less common, however the warm nights we get down here have other influences to thank. Urbanisation and the sea being the big two.

Back end of June we had an overnight low at one local station of of around 22C however the dew points never even reached 18C.. a slack off shore breeze after a hot day was to thank.

Gatwick now 34c

Heathrow 33c