The UK has had the hottest May 1 on record, after temperatures climbed to 28C in Kew Gardens, southwest London.
Emergency services warned people to take care if they tried to cool off in lakes, rivers and the sea, and that the heat and recent dry spells meant a higher risk of wildfires.
The temperature in Kew Gardens beat the previous May 1 record of 27.4C at Lossiemouth in Moray in 1990, the Met Office said.
Petersfield Open Air Pool, Hampshire
CHRIS GORMAN BIG LADDER
Greenwich Park, southeast London
GEORGE CRACKNELL WRIGHT
On the River Cam in Cambridge
EPA/NEIL HALL
The Sky Pool in Wandsworth, southwest London
AP PHOTO/KIN CHEUNG
Wisteria Walk at RHS Wisley in Woking, Surrey
ANDREW MATTHEWS/PA
Glastonbury, Somerset
SWNS
The Channel at Selsey, West Sussex
COASTAL JJ/BAV MEDIA
Students from the University of St Andrews in The Gaudie procession, which commemorates John Honey, a student who rescued crew members from a shipwreck in 1800
JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES
Temperatures were “still climbing”, the agency added, with Thursday also the warmest day of the year, beating the 26.7C reached in Wisley, Surrey, on Wednesday.
That evening a 16-year-old boy got into difficulty while swimming at Colwick Country Park, Nottingham, and his body was found a few hours later,
