Temperatures really crawling down tonight.

Midnight temperature of 21.7c.

Yeah! well cool here 21c ...............not

Sweating like a good un

I think we'll struggle to make the 18c minimum here at this rate. Still up at 21c

Slept like a log last night as it felt fairly comfortable. So far, I've been escaping the worse of the heat and humidity (as if you didn't know that by now) but all that could change as we go into next week going by the model outputs, but that's a long way off in forecasting terms.

Another gloriously sunny and warm morning here in what has been the best week of summery weather for years. This makes me wince though...

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

A lot of dry hot and sunny weather on Friday and the weekend, though turning less warm towards the east with an increasing chance of coastal haar.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/ta/

Low of 14.3c last night, glad i'm not down sarf.....

Crap nights sleep.............oh sorry thats right I didnt get any

Kew Gardens actually beat the mighty Heathrow yesterday with a max of 31.2c.

90f possible today.

I've found it surpprisingly easy to sleep during this warm spell. Mind you, anything is easier than trying to sleep in a tent, as I was attempting to do a few days ago!

Expecting today to be the hottest day so far but reckon next week could be hotter still.

I find it hard to beloved they are all wrong.

Originally Posted by: nsrobins 

No need to get all emotional about it

It's always been the way of 'official' temperatures. The data recorded by the Met Office for records, etc has to be manually read on standard mercury max/min and wet/dry thermometers (someone correct me if this is no longer the case). This obviously requires people to get out there at regular intervals, which is fine for Heathrow and Kew and Wisley, etc, but not for all locations.
We all like to think our own garden instruments are providing accurate readings but without any scientific or repeatable verification you can never be sure. And if they are not in a decent shaded spot, preferably in a screen preventing wind anomolies, then it's just for fun . . .?

Originally Posted by: picturesareme 

Exactly. The easiest thing in the world is to record a temperature that is too high on a hot day. That's because as the sun shines on things like buildings, they absorb the heat and then radiate it out. Couple that with light being reflected off glass and shining on other objects, and obstructions like buildings and trees preventing proper air movement, there's lots of things that can affect the temperature.

Most people don't have huge gardens, and put their weather stations in places which could be affected by any of these issues. So whilst you might be accurately recording the temperature in your garden, next door's garden will be different, and other houses different again; in fact different parts of your garden will have different temperatures. Therefore, such readings have no value in accurate national comparison, any more than Jiries' shed thermometer does.

Officially sited thermometers should be away from such obstructions and heat-absorbing surfaces so that the temperature is representative of that locality. Heathrow is a moot point I guess, but rather than recording an incorrect temperature due to a building a few metres away, it is recording the temperature of the whole locality. Yes, there is lots of tarmac and aircraft engines, etc. around Heathrow, but the temperature there is probably representative of the whole airfield (an area of several square miles) so therefore it is valid - unless we pretend that a huge area of the country that is built on doesn't exist.

I love warm weather but I gotta say I'll be pleased about the slight cool down if you can call it that for my area over the weekend, It'll be nice to sit in it and enjoy it rather than sweating buckets lol.

I'm going away on the 27th To Torquay so knowing my luck the possible breakdown around the 26th will occur !!

It's called Slough.

Good post Darren.

Yes; but the Stevenson Screen also has to be sited correctly, to ensure that radiation from other sources isn't hitting it, and that it isn't sheltered from wind flow. Inevitably sunshine and wind does have an effect on the temperatures recorded in the screen.

FYI the official UK maximum so far is not actually at Heathrow - one of the stations that doesn't appear on the daily lists just pipped it on Saturday:

@bbcweather: The Met Office now says that 31.5C at Hurcott Farm near Yeovilton recorded on Saturday is the UK's highest temp of the year so far.

Oddly the official max at Yeovilton itself was only 30.1C that day. Anyway I expect that will be smashed today. It feels like a scorcher out there today. Already 25.5C at 10am at Heathrow.

Also Scotland's max this year was 29.3C at Grangemouth Refinery on July 9th.

Edit: regarding siting the Stevenson screen. The gerneral rule is that the distance from a building has to be at least twice the building's height - not easy in a small back garden!