Britain breaks all-time temperature record, with 39.1ºC reading

Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday, with a provisional reading of 39.1 degrees Celsius (102.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the country's weather office — and the heat was only expected to rise.

The highest temperature previously recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), a record set in 2019. Tuesday's record was in Charlwood, England.

“Temperatures are likely to rise further through today,’’ the forecaster said.

The high Tuesday came as the country sweltered in heat that also scorched mainland Europe for the past week. Travel, health care and schools were disrupted in a country not prepared for such extremes.

A huge chunk of England, from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north, remained under the country’s first warning of “extreme” heat Tuesday, meaning there is danger of death even for healthy people.

Britain’s Supreme Court closed to visitors after a problem with the air conditioning forced it to move hearings online. The British Museum planned to close early. Many public buildings, including hospitals don’t have air conditioning, a reflection of how unusual such extreme heat is in the country better known for rain and mild temperatures.

Unusually hot, dry weather has gripped large swaths of the continent since last week, triggering wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans and leading to hundreds of heat-related deaths. Images of flames racing toward a French beach and Britons sweltering — even at the seaside — have driven home concerns about climate change.

The U.K.’s Met Office weather agency also reported that provisional figures showed the temperature remained above 25 C (77 F) overnight in parts of the country for the first time.

Many people coped with the heat wave by staying put. Road traffic was down from its usual levels on Monday. Trains ran at low speed out of concern rails could buckle, or did not run at all. London’s Kings Cross Station, one of the country’s busiest rail hubs, was empty on Tuesday, with no trains on the busy east coast line connecting the capital to the north and Scotland. London’s Luton Airport had to close its runway because of heat damage.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain’s transport infrastructure, some of it dating from Victorian times, “just wasn’t built to withstand this type of temperature — and it will be many years before we can replace infrastructure with the kind of infrastructure that could.”

At least five people were reported to have drowned across the U.K. in rivers, lakes and reservoirs while trying to cool off.

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