32.4c @ 4.50pm and still slowing ticking up here. I suspect the peak will be 5.15pm before a very very slow decline. 

A sultry night ahead for sure. Not dropping below 25c all night in Central London according to BBC Teletext. Ugghh.

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/ICAMBR215/table/2022-07-18/2022-07-18/daily

This ammeatur station in cambridge seems to be a good proxy for the official one.

After stagnating, its now back on the rise and showing 38.8C

Unusual that it's hotter in Folkestone than here. Currently 31.8c

Not long till the 5pm readings. Now or never for today I think - and the silence from the Met Office so far suggests no record just yet.

Still rising here in fierce sun, to 34.1C

Looks like I spoke too soon as well. It peaked at 34.1°C at about 15:45, then cloud and even a light shower passed through, dropping the temperature to 32.9°C. Now, it's cleared again and back up to 34°C in the last 20 minutes. This is incredible!

I think its done for me, we got to around 36C an hour or so ago but cloud is stopping it from going any higher.

Now about 35C

The Tweet from the Met Office:

1600 UPDATE: Hawarden in Flintshire has now provisionally reached 37.1°C

🌡️ This is the highest air temperature ever recorded in #Wales #Heatwave2022 #heatwave #hottestdayoftheyear pic.twitter.com/QjkVL9YYrV

— Met Office (@metoffice) July 18, 2022

The replies to that, though 

FFS, comments like "It had to be the highest something as it wasn’t the 40+ You were scaremongering about" and [about the temperature map] "Find me the scariest dark blood red to frighten them"

Most dickish comments from people with union jacks next to their name. Most will be cretinous climate change deniers

Edit: wrong Tweet linked to 

Mine too 

D 

There is an option in the settings to show amateur stations from the CWOP (citizen weather observation programme). My screenshots above  had that turned off.

My goodness, you then realise how sparse our network is.

2 in east London is an utter joke and so sparse in some of the other regions expected to be hottest.

5pm (1600Z) update:

Cambridge 38c (r)
Lakenheath 37.7C
Santon Downham 37.5C
Mildenhall 37.3C
Cavendish 37.3C
Brooms Barn 37.1C
Stansted 37C (r)
Norwich 37C (r)
Jersey AP 36.9C
Coningsby 36.8C
St James's Park 36.7C
Marham 36.2C
Wittering 36.1C

Guernsey 34.1C so very close to the record

Here 34.3C a new high for the day and still going up

Just climbed up to 33.6 C.

Again, this is based on my vantage davis station perched on a pole atop a concrete wall so it's probably off - but then again I thought it was under reading earlier on today.

35.3c high here, smashing previous record by 1.2c. Dropped a bit when a chunk of cloud came over but now sunny again and 35.0c.
Leeds uni 36.7c high. If there was an official station in Leeds still you would think 36c or more was reached , especially as rural Bramham was at least 35.9c.
.

37.9C seems to be the final max for Jersey

https://twitter.com/Jersey_Met/status/1549063191166066688

Some areas may still peak in the next hour or so. There is also the possibility of heat spikes between the hourly records that push it over 38.7C but I think we'll come just short today