Britain has gone and done it again. Monday handed the country its hottest May day since records began, with temperatures climbing past 34°C and leaving half the nation simultaneously delighted and completely unprepared.
The mercury peaked at 34.2°C in Kew Gardens, west London, smashing the previous May record and prompting the kind of scenes you only really see when the British summer decides to actually show up: packed parks, sold-out paddling pools, and supermarket shelves stripped of every last bottle of sun cream by noon.
It follows what was already a record-breaking weekend. Sunday night brought the warmest May night the UK has ever recorded, with temperatures refusing to drop below 19.4°C. For anyone trying to sleep under a duvet they hadn’t thought to put away yet, it was a long one.
The Met Office had been flagging the heat for days, but even their forecasters seemed slightly taken aback by how far the thermometers climbed. A spokesperson noted the temperatures were “exceptionally unusual” for the time of year, sitting closer to what you’d expect from a warm July than the tail end of spring.
Transport networks, predictably, felt the strain. Several rail operators issued warnings about speed restrictions on lines where tracks risk buckling in extreme heat, and London Underground passengers were reminded to carry water, advice that lands somewhere between obvious and genuinely necessary when carriage temperatures push past 30°C.
Health officials urged people to check on elderly relatives and neighbours, with NHS guidance flagging the risks of heat exhaustion for the very young and the very old. It’s the kind of heat that feels glorious for about four hours and then starts to feel like a personal attack.
“We just weren’t ready for this,” said one Londoner queuing outside a hardware shop for a fan. “I’ve got one duvet, one fan, and absolutely no plan.”
The hot spell is expected to ease later in the week as Atlantic weather systems push back in. But with May already rewriting the record books, it’s hard not to wonder what the rest of the summer has in store.
