England basks in sunshine

Much of England was basking in warm sunshine today, with temperatures even nudging towards the nineties Fahrenheit in the capital.

The South East and eastern parts of the country enjoyed the best of the weather, with bright sunshine and the mercury topping between 27C and 30C (81-86F).

But it was London that won in the warm stakes as the thermometer inched to 31C (88F), baking the streets to resemble an oven.

Elsewhere, western parts of England and Wales were expected to be cloudy throughout the afternoon with increased chances of patchy rain, according to forecasters at PA WeatherCentre in London.

Scotland was more cloudy and in western parts there were outbreaks of rain, but further east it was dry.

Temperatures on the whole were still quite warm, with highs of up to 22C (72F).

Northern Ireland was forced to endure light, patchy rain with even lower temperatures of about 20C (68F).

Paul Mott, a forecaster at PA WeatherCentre, said: "The summery weather is expected to last tomorrow and into next week, although temperatures are expected to dip by several degrees.

"London and the south-east of England will be about 25C and there should be sunny spells. Much of the UK won't be that bad but there will be the odd shower here and there."

The unsettled spell is expected to start on about Tuesday, he added.

Most watched News videos