The Met Office has been desperate to declare a new UK temperature record this week, but the weather gods said no!
The Cambridge temperature fell well-short of the all-time record of 38.5C set at Faversham in 2003.
They feebly claim that the Cambridge temperature is still a record for July. Climatologically July is a warmer month than August when the Faversham record was set, so by all accounts, the 2003 heatwave was more extreme than yesterday.
The cause of the high temperatures is very clear. Not only was hot air being drawn up from Spain, but a deep area of low pressure to the west powered up the jet stream to bring that hot air north very quickly before the heat had a chance to dissipate.
I have asked the Met Office for data for a range of sites across the UK, so will be doing a full analysis then.
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