The thermometer soared to a peak of 30.4C at 16.23 on Wednesday as the high pressure, now centred over Scandinavia, brought very warm air from the Continent and as far south as North Africa. This was the warmest day since 25th August 2019. The UV level briefly reached ‘Very High’, lower than previous days, as the air brought pollutants during its passage over Europe with possible sand particles from the Sahara Desert. The solar energy was down again on previous days as also global sunshine.
The land retained much of the heat overnight so that the minimum of 15.6C at 05.07 on Thursday was 5.6C above average. Both daytime and nighttime extremes were up 4C on the Tuesday values.
Thursday saw hazy sunshine, but strong, from dawn with the breeze coming from the northeast initially. By 08.00 the thermometer had already reached 21.4C making it the warmest start to the day at this time since 10th July 2017.
The barometric pressure has been falling the past twenty-four hours so change is in the near future.
Update on Thursday at 16.45: maximum of 31.4C at 15.30.
