UK records its hottest June day, beating highs from 1957 and 1976

The Met Office issued a rare red extreme heat warning for 9am on Wednesday until 9pm on Thursday/ Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters View image in fullscreen The Met Office issued a rare red extreme heat warning for 9am on Wednesday until 9pm on Thursday/ Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters UK records its hottest June day, beating highs from 1957 and 1976 Temperature of 35.7C recorded in Surrey, beating previous record of 35.6C, while France records hottest day nationally The UK has broken its all-time temperature record for June, as the World Health Organization chief says Europe’s heatwave is “putting lives at risk”. Temperatures bolstered by climate breakdown hit 35.7 in southern England, according to provisional records reported by the BBC. The record high was reached in Charlwood, Surrey. The previous June record of 35.6C was set in Camden Square in London in 1957 and was reached again in Southampton in 1976. The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK is 40.3C, reached on 19 July 2022 at Coningsby in Lincolnshire. The Met Office issued a rare red extreme heat warning for 9am on Wednesday until 9pm on Thursday. Further amber warnings are in place for Friday and Saturday. Schools, hospitals, care homes and workplaces have struggled to handle sweltering temperatures that stress organs and push people beyond what their bodies can handle. Coping measures this week have resulted in trains driving slower, hospitals cancelling appointments, schools closing early or completely, and hosepipe bans. Matthew Lehnert, the Met Office chief forecaster, said on Wednesday the heat was “exceptional” for June. “High humidity is an additional factor for this heatwave, which will mean the heat will feel much more potent for many,” he said. View image in fullscreen People using fans on the tube in central London on Wednesday. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images Heatwaves kill tens of thousands of people across Europe each year and the most scorching extremes have grown hotter, longer and more common as the planet has warmed. Climate breakdown is thought to have increased temperatures by 2C to 4C, according to a rapid analysis published by ClimaMeter on Monday. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said Europe’s heatwave was “putting lives at risk” on Wednesday. He urged world leaders to invest more in resilient health systems and act faster on climate change. “The data are clear: temperatures across Europe are rising at roughly twice the global average rate, increasing the likelihood and severity of extreme heat in the future,” he said. “We cannot afford further delay.” France, which recorded 40 deaths from drowning as people sought to escape the heat, experienced its hottest night on record on Monday, followed by its hottest day on record on Tuesday, according to averaged temperature data from the country’s national weather service Météo-France. In Spain, one in every eight weather stations recorded temperatures abov