UK records hottest May day as temperatures hit 33.5C near London

LONDON: Britain registered its hottest day ever recorded in May on Monday after temperatures climbed to 33.5C near London, according to the Met Office, as a heatwave pushed unusually high temperatures across parts of the country.

The national weather agency said the reading at Heathrow provisionally surpassed the previous May record of 32.8C, which had been set in 1922 and matched again in 1944. Earlier, the Met Office had forecast that temperatures could rise as high as 35C after heatwave conditions spread to parts of southeast England and London by Sunday night.

In a social media update, the Met Office said:

Temperatures at Heathrow have recently reached 33.5℃, provisionally beating the all-time May record

The agency had also described the spell as exceptional for the season, saying records are usually exceeded only by small margins and that this episode was unprecedented for this time of year. Monday was also expected to become the hottest bank holiday on record.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan told the Press Association that temperatures approaching 35C in May were highly unusual in Britain, noting that such levels are rarely seen even during summer. He said:

We rarely see temperatures above 35℃, even in the summer months, so to see temperatures getting close to 35℃ in May is, as I say, pretty historic

The latest milestone adds to a run of temperature extremes in the UK. The country recorded its hottest year on record in 2025, while scientists have warned that Britain is not adequately prepared for increasingly frequent heatwaves linked to human-caused climate change.

Scientists say climate change driven by human activity is intensifying extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts and floods, leading to temperature records being broken more often. Last week, climate advisers warned the UK government that the country was built for conditions that no longer exist and urged it to adapt infrastructure such as schools and hospitals to a warming climate.

People in London also spoke about the unusually hot conditions. Andrea Quaine, a 41-year-old mother, told AFP that while the sunshine was welcome, the temperatures were far above what would normally be expected in the UK. She said:

It's nice to have it, but it is much, much hotter than it should be in the UK

She added:

I am worried about it because it obviously shows that global warming is happening

Liza Nizari, a 10-year-old visiting London from Manchester, described the heat in stark terms, saying:

The weather here, it’s like a mini version of hell. It’s boiling. It’s like really hot. The sunscreen, it will protect me, but it’s really hot