And forecasters are saying this summer could be the UK’s hottest ever because of warmer water as far away as the Pacific.
Thousands flocked to beaches, beer gardens and parks to lap up “exceptionally mild” spring weather caused by a band of high pressure making its way across Britain.
The hottest recorded in Britain yesterday was 19.3C (66F) in London’s St James’s Park.
That was more than two degrees warmer than in Greece where temperatures reached 17C and six degrees hotter than Turkey where it was just 13C.
Bookies have now slashed the odds of temperatures soaring past the 25.6C March record set 1968 in Mepal, Cambs, after the mercury soared well above the 12C average for this time of year.
And despite the wettest winter on record in England and Wales, forecasters are now expecting Britain to experience a surprise summer heatwave.
Boffins at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, say there is a 75 per cent chance that this summer will be a scorcher, with Britain set for an El Niño weather pattern,
That means waters on the
Pacific equator rise higher than usual, leading to hotter temperatures
here. It is even possible 2003’s record of 38.5C in Faversham, Kent,
may fall.
Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan confirmed: “It was a lovely warm sunny day in the South.”And the good news is large parts of the country will still be basking today.
In the South and East of England, temperatures are expected to top 18C.
But in the North West and Scotland, temperatures will be cooler with a chance of rain.
