Extreme weather This year’s historic temperatures

February: the warmest on record, with an average temperature of 10C (50F)

Feb 26: the hottest February day on record in Britain with 21.2C at Kew Gardens

February: first time a 20C (70F) temperature was recorded in a winter month (Dec-jan-feb)

March 20: coldest daytime temperature for a spring equinox in England -0.6C (31F) in Buxton, Derbyshire and Bingley, West Yorks

Easter Sunday: sunniest day for Easter weekend with 14.1 hours

♦Easter

Monday: hottest on record in all four nations of the UK

♦July 25: hottest UK day on record with 38.7C (102F) at Cambridge University Botanic Garden

♦Aug 25: hottest August bank holiday Sunday with high of 33.3C (92F) at Heathrow

Aug 26: hottest August bank holiday Monday with 33.2C (91.8F) at Heathrow

A group of nuns stay cool in the shade on Brighton beach, top. Above from left: a performer at the Notting Hill Carnival in west London; Kadie Lane, 10, splashes in the sea at Blyth in Northumberland; a youngster enjoys the hot weather by diving into the River Brue in West Lydford, Somerset