UK heatwave: Wales’ hottest temperature record broken twice in one day after reaching 37.1C

Gogerddan near Aberystwyth provisionally recorded 35.3C on Monday. Then hours later Hawarden in Flintshire recorded 37.1C

Temperature records were broken twice in one day in Wales on Monday, after temperatures spikes at 37.1C in Flintshire surpassing a record set just hours earlier.

The Met Office said on Monday that temperatures had reached 35.3C in Gogerddan, near Aberystwyth in west Wales, exceeding the previous record set in August 1990 by just point one of a degree.

Later it updated its alert to say Hawarden in Flintshire, near the English town of Cheshire, has recorded 37.1C.

“This is the highest air temperature ever recorded in Wales,” it said in a Tweet.

The Met Office had previously warned that the UK’s highest temperature record could be surpassed twice in the next two days, but shortly before 5 pm on Monday only Wales had set temperature records.

Nevertheless, extreme temperatures of 37C and 38C are forecast in parts of England on Monday, and highs of around 40C could be recorded on Tuesday, the Met Office said.

The previous record of 38.7C for the UK was measured at Cambridge Botanic Garden on 25 July 2019.

Climate scientists say heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense due to human-induced climate change.

Greenhouse gas emissions have already increased global average temperatures by around 1.3C since the late 1800s, or what is known as pre-industrial levels.

On Monday, the highest temperatures are forecast to hit parts of the east midlands and east Wales, while on Tuesday peak highs are predicted from the Vale of York down to London, according to Met Office forecasts.

The Met Office had earlier forecast that there was a 95 per cent chance highest daily maxium temperature records would be broken in Wales and England. A 70 per cent chance Scotland’s 32.9C record will be broken and a 20 per cent chance Northern Ireland’s 31.3C record could be broken.

Scotland’s record temperature was measured in Greycrook in the Scottish borders on 9 August 2003. Northern Ireland’s record was measured on 21 July 2021 at Castlederg in County Tyrone.