BRITS are waking up to another summer sizzler as the mercury hits 25C first-thing this morning – with thousands set to pack parks and beaches.
Commuters are today bracing for more rail chaos and school closures as a red “danger to life” heat warning remains in place until midnight.
Brits in London woke up to another summer sizzler this morning after a glorious sunset last night
Last night, sunseekers enjoyed the sunset in Greenwich Park after a scorching day
Brits flocked to beaches in Cornwall yesterday
Thousands of Brits are expected to work from home again today amid fears rail lines will “buckle” as temperatures soar.
Yesterday, the mercury hit 30C by 10am before peaking at 38.1C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, at 3pm.
This morning was no different, with the Met Office recording highs of 25.9C in Lyneham, Wiltshire, by 5am – before the mercury dips later in the week.
This morning, power cuts were reported in London and several areas in the South East after the Met Office warned that heat-sensitive equipment faces a “high risk of failure” in hot weather.,
On Monday, commuters crammed onto trains while thousands of stay-aways packed the nation’s beaches.
The heat also melted Luton Airport’s runway, sparked grass fires and shut 200 hundred schools – with more closures expected today.
One Aldi supermarket rationed heatwave essentials like water bottles for customers while Brits were urged to look out for elderly residents and vulnerable neighbours.
Tragically, a man in his 70s last night became the twelfth person to die in the heatwave.
It came after a 14-year-old boy was feared to have drowned after getting into difficulties in the Thames in Richmond, West London.
And cops scrambled to save a 16-year-old boy after he began struggling in Bray Lake, Maidenhead, Berkshire, at around 11.45am.
Rail infrastructure was under exceptional stress on Monday with tracks at risk of melting.
A total of 21 train operators announced slower services to stop tracks buckling – with Network Rail warning commuters that train times could more than double due to speed restrictions.
And the chances of services returning to normal by midweek will depend on any “damage that the weather does to the infrastructure” on Monday and Tuesday, travellers have been told.
Forecasters refused to rule out the possibility of another heatwave later this year because of how early it is.
The Met Office’s chief meteorologist Paul Davies said: “I’ve been doing this job for about 30 years and I’ve never seen the type of charts I’ve seen.
“The speed at which we are seeing this exceptionally high temperature is broadly in line with what we are saying, but the brutality of the heat is astounding.”
On Monday, commuters crammed onto trains in London
Friends cooled off in the sea at Malahide beach near Dublin on Monday
Brits flocked to the beach in Brighton
