Out of Africa..
Plume of hot air makes UK warmer than Nairobi London Marathon could be hottest in race’s history
BLIGHTY will be hotter than Nairobi today as an “African plume” delivers the warmest April weather in seven years.
Highs of 25C were recorded in Gravesend, Kent, and London’s St James’s Park yesterday – more than 12C above the monthly average.
And the mercury is expected to rise as high as 27C today in the south-east and London, topping the 22C Kenya’s capital will get.
There is even a 50-50 chance the heatwave will last until Sunday and make this year’s London Marathon the hottest in its 37-year history.
Met office expert John West said: “Thursday is expected to be the hottest day of the week. Sunday’s London Marathon has the potential to be a rather warm one.”
The 1,500-mile-wide plume has been pulled northwards from Africa by low pressure over the North Atlantic. If 27C is breached today it will be the hottest April day since 2011, when 28.4C was recorded on the 23rd.
And the balmy weather has not been confined to the south-east as temperatures of 21C are expected in Newcastle, 19C in Northern Ireland and 17C in Glasgow.
Next week, we return to a more typical April mix of sun and rain.
COMPLAINING about the weather is the most popular pastime on our islands, where conditions can change rapidly.
So now we’re seeing a strange orange globe in the sky and the mercury rising, let’s remind anyone who moans it is too hot that last week, they were probably whining it was too cold.