The heat record for June has been broken for the third day in a row as Britain continues to face high temperatures.
The Met Office has confirmed the temperature reached 37.3C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, beating yesterday's record of 36.7C in Merryfield, Somerset.
These temperatures have broken the 50-year-old record of 35.6C, recorded in Southampton in the infamous summer of 1976.
In a post on X shortly before 2pm, the Met Office said: "Temperatures are still rising."
Schools and nurseries have been forced to closed and a hosepipe ban has been brought in for Kent amid surging demand.
Several hospitals have declared critical incidents, with University Hospital Southampton being forced to cancel a number of planned operations and some outpatient appointments.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) responded to its highest number of life-threatening emergencies ever on Wednesday, and its chief operating officer Craig Harman said he expects "demand to grow day on day over the next couple of days".
As football fans prepare to cheer on England in Saturday’s World Cup game against Panama, Mr Harman has told people to drink alcohol responsibly, drinking "plenty of water" in between alcoholic beverages.
The Met Office has confirmed the record has been broken again
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LAS on Wednesday saw a 50 per cent increase in life-threatening emergency calls compared with a typical Wednesday in June, with the number of cardiac arrests up 30 per cent.
LAS Chief Executive Jason Killens told the BBC that extreme heat can affect anyone, not just those with existing health conditions.
He said: "To coin a phrase, we’ve thrown the kitchen sink at this week. All non-essential training, non-essential meetings have been cancelled.
"Clinical colleagues who aren’t routinely deployed on the front line have been deployed back on the front line."
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The record has been broken for the third day
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Firefighters from Derbyshire and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service are continuing to tackle a wildfire on Tintwistle Moor in Glossop which is affecting an area of about 200 hectares.
Leicestershire Police said specialist police dive teams searching for a teenage boy after reports he entered Meynell Lake in Fosse Way, Syston, on Thursday, have recovered his body from the water.
A 50-year-old man from Cilfrew, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, died after entering the water at Aberavon beach on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said electricity supplies may be squeezed on Friday.
A wildfire has broken out in Glossop, Derbyshire, in northern England
|DERBYSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE
The Met Office extended its red warning until 9pm on Friday for London and parts of east and South East England, stretching across Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Kent, the first time it has issued red heat warnings over three consecutive days.
An amber heat warning is in place for a wider area on Friday, running to midnight and taking in the East Midlands, East of England, North West, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Swathes of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland face yellow warnings for thunderstorms on Friday.
Annie Shuttleworth, a Met Office meteorologist, said eastern England is expected to see the highest temperatures on Friday but things will "finally cool down this weekend".