Hottest place in UK: where are temperatures highest today - Met Office heatwave weather forecast latest

The UK is currently going through what experts predict could be a record-breaking heatwave.

Met Office forecasts suggest temperatures could go as high as 43℃ in some parts of England, where a red heat health weather warning is in place.

All of Wales and southern parts of Scotland are also covered by amber warnings.

But where was the hottest place in the country on Monday (18 July) - and where could the highest temperatures hit today ( Tuesday 19 July)?

Here’s everything you need to know.

How hot was it on Monday?

NationalWorld has taken observations from both the Met Office and the Windy weather forecast app.

As of Midday on Monday 18 July, the hottest places in the UK (all showing temperatures of 34℃) were:

• Greater London
• Bracknell, Berkshire
• Woking, Surrey
• Fleet, Hampshire
• Chelmsford, Harlow, Bishops Stortford and Braintree, Essex
• Stevenage, Arlesey and Royston, Hertfordshire
• Haverhill, Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• Cambridge, Saint Neots, Cambridgeshire
• Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
• Pershore, Worcestershire
• Bideford, Devon

By 1pm, the hottest places were Cambridge and Barnstaple, where the mercury got to 35℃.

Temperatures crept up to 36℃ in the following towns, cities and rural areas from 3pm:

• Stevenage, Potters Bar, Letchworth, Buntingford and Royston, Hertfordshire
• Rayleigh, Chelmsford, Braintree, Harlow, Bishops Stortford, Thaxted, Saffron Walden and Maldon, Essex
• Bedford and Biggleswade, Bedfordshire
• Haverhill, Lavenham and Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• Cambridge, Huntingdon and Linton, Cambridgeshire
• Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
• Worcester, Upton-upon-Severn, Pershore, Evesham and Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire

Temperatures remained high into the evening with 35℃ recorded in:

• Waddington, Lincolnshire
• Northolt, London
• Rostherne, East Cheshire

The peak temperatures across the four nations (so far) have been:

• England: 38.1C in Santon Downham, Suffolk (0.6℃ short of the all-time temperature record)
• Scotland: 30.8℃ in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire (Scotland’s all-time record temperature is 32.9℃)
• Wales: 37.1℃ Hawarden, Flintshire (provisionally the highest ever temperature recorded in Wales, beating the previous record of 35.2℃)
• Northern Ireland: 30.9℃ in Derrylin, County Fermanagh (Northern Ireland’s temperature record is 31.3℃ recorded in July 2021)

It was also a record evening, with the UK recording its hottest night ever on Monday.

Highs of 25.9℃ were recorded in Emley Moor near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

Where is the hottest place in the UK?

Tuesday (19 July) is predicted to be even hotter than Monday. Temperatures could reach 41℃ in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and hit 40℃ in London.

At 10am, the highest temperatures were found in Kew Gardens, West London (35.1℃), Heathrow (34.5℃) and Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire (34.3℃).

The Met Office says provisional data showed Charlwood, Surrey had broken the UK temperature record by 11am - posting a high of 39.1℃.

Just before 1pm, Heathrow took the provisional record - breaking the 40℃ barrier for the first time in UK history with a temperature of 40.2℃.

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and the West Midlands are all likely to equal or exceed this temperature this afternoon.

By 4pm - the heat of the day - the mercury is set to break the 40℃ barrier in these locations:

• Cambridge, Huntingdon, March and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
• Stamford, Bourne, Sleaford, Lincoln, Wragby, Horncastle and Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
• Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire

Parts of East Anglia, East, the East Midlands and Yorkshire will be on course for 39℃ temperatures, meaning they too could break the temperature record.

In Scotland, record highs of 34℃ are anticipated in the border towns of Hawick and Jedburgh from 1pm.

Meanwhile, in Wales, Monmouth and Wrexham are expected to be the hottest places with temperatures expected to reach at least 32℃.

In Northern Ireland, the mercury will reach a high of 22℃ in Belfast as an Atlantic weather system will have begun to push in from the west.

We will not know if an official temperature record has been broken until 10am on Wednesday (20 July).

What has the Met Office said about UK heatwave?

The Met Office has described the weather as “unprecedented”.

The forecaster has said a new temperature record is “pretty likely” to be recorded.

“We’re looking at the maximum temperatures somewhere between 40C-41C, and that’s looking to be across the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire region,” Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said.