It’s official: Thursday was our hottest day

LAST Thursday really was Britain’s hottest day on record, the Met Office confirmed yesterday.

While forecasters had provisionally said the 38.7C (101.66F) measured in Cambridge was the UK’s highest temperature ever, they could not be sure.

Cautiously, they said they would have to check the recording equipment had not been compromised – and, crucially, that the thermometer was accurate. Now Met Office experts have examined the kit and confirmed that the previous record – 38.5C (101.3F) in Faversham, Kent, in August 2003 – has been broken.

Thursday’s recording was taken at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden – which houses a climate observation site that reports every 24 hours.

But the Met Office say there could have been an even higher temperature measured elsewhere in the UK – as some official observation sites only report monthly.

Other countries in Europe that saw records fall included Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.