13 locations in the UK experienced temperatures exceeding 32.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, which was the previous record high for the month of May, Sky News reports.
“This heat would have been exceptional in the UK even in the height of summer,” writes the British meteorological institute, the Met Office on X. It also notes that Wales has a new record high (32.2 degrees in Hawarden) and that new records are likely on Tuesday.
In Ireland, a new record was also measured for the month of May, with the thermometer reaching 28.6 degrees at Shannon Airport outside Limerick, the public service broadcaster RTE reports.
It is also unusually hot in France. Parts of Brittany have been under a yellow heat warning since Sunday.
A spokesperson for France's weather agency Météo France told AFP that it was the first time a yellow heat warning had been issued in May since the system was created in 2004.
