34.4 degrees now being reported from Gravesend in Kent.

Although I've always thought that site to be a bit dodgy. The readings there often seem to be higher than anywhere else.

Isn't it just! 20 degrees here

Sounds like our storm blew your way

I think there is a scientific reason why Gravesend gets the highest temperatures, you'd have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me though!

Here in Medway It's 32C, absolutely sweltering, can't wait for this heatwave to end! 18C on Saturday, now that's more like September!

its dropped from 29c to 24c... quite cold! lol

think that front to the west has pushed in further then expected, we have a more southerly draft then southeasterly.. pity... theres some storms/showers that might just clip me here in derby.

local topography maybe making it a 'hot spot'...

A real tale of two halves today!

Here in Cheshire it was 20 degrees by 9am, up to 23 by midday, clouded over and has dipped down to 20C again after a heavy downpour an hour ago, sky very threatening for more showers.

Yet, 40 miles away, across the Peak District, it's 29 degrees in Sheffield!

A cold pool of air over Ireland, with temps of 16 degrees in Ireland, meets a hot pool of continental air, and the western side of England and wales gets the battle zone!

Cheshire East - Nantwich Area.

The sky is a mixture of all dark colours.
No rain as yet.
But thundering overhead now.
Rain just starting to tipple down.

16c here in Northern Ireland, It was cloudy all morning but has brightened up this afternoon.

Can't believe that after all this banging on about it being the hottest day in September in years that not one news report mentioned thunderstorms just got home looking like a drowned rat and all my washing has been ruined

Thunder and lightning in Manchester heading this way

It's really going at it in Middleton heavy rain thunder lightning the lot.

Crazy lightning when you zoom in on this. https://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=...d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

NI was supposed to get all that rain today but we didn't get any.

The site is Gravesend (Broadness) and it's on the south bank of the Thames on a bend in the river, Swanscombe Marshes, just across the river from Grays, so it's more like East London than Gravesend I'd say, though technically just inside the Gravesend boundary.

Here's the location - you can zoom in and out. http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/03784

It's been investigated a few times and I've seen photos from a guy who tramped down through the marshes just to see it and take pictures! Standard Stevenson screen on grass just inside an enclosure protecting what looks like a radar or telecomms station. The fence is over 2 metres tall IIRC, and it's made of an open steel framework so air can get through alright, but I suspect that there will be a bit of shelter from the wind, more than most official stations anyway, which may partly explain the slightly high values sometimes seen from there. Compare it with say Southampton Airport, (2m up, no fence, big field, short grass) which I have visited and the sensor shield is far more exposed than Gravesend, hence the often slightly low (but probably correct) readings from there.

But today, London City Airport (only 10 miles west) reported 33 degrees C on 6 consecutive half hourly METAR reports and Heathrow reached 32.8, so the 'Gravesend' maximum of 34.4 mentioned by the Met Office tweet seems to be realistic for the site.

Mental thunderstorm here at the moment (Sheffield).

There were hailstones the size of marbles. Set a few car alarms off

We had rain all morning then Thunder and Lightening this afternoon ,and we're now having another humdinger of a Thunderstorm with great flashes of lightening here in this part of Cornwall

Thick fog this afternoon in Cornwall.
This evening though there has been a humdinger of a thunder and lightning storm with heavy, heavy rain. Seems to have passed now and there's a bit of blue sky! Crazy!!

NI was forecast 15C today and London forecast +30C. With that cool air meeting the hot air shouldn't the met office have known about this lightning? I saw nothing about it on their bulletins.

Are you two twins?

HOTTEST SEPTEMBER DAY SINCE 1911 - 34.4c (94f)

Well it was cooler here in North Bucks this afternoon, compared to the UK peak temperature today - I have recorded a mid September peak of just shy of 90f, with 31.2c (88.2f) here at NP.

It's the warmest day in September for 105 years, with that 34.4c reached in good old Gravesend, Kent yet again;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37345436

The storms currently breaking out in the north of England sound interesting. The rain radar is always a great watch when storms are developing. I see the tip of Cornwall has been affected too. There were some interesting cloud formations bubbling up around 5pm and I ended up taking some pictures because it caught my eye with the sun behind the cloud illuminating a bright orange outline around the clouds.

Look at the flooding in Manchester. https://twitter.com/krisangelwings/s...72647653343233

Been a hell of a thunderstorm here in East Lancs. Biggest storm I've ever seen! Power Cuts, Constant flashes, even the street lights went off! Was dark by 7. Luckily everything back to normal now though. Could be more thunder on Thursday though...

Midnight temperatures:

22.4 here (S Hants)
23.0 Manston (Kent)
23.4 Heathrow Airport
23.5 Shoreham & St. Catherines Point (IoW)
25.4 Langdon Bay (East Kent)

On the other hand, it looks like from the radar accumulation estimates that parts of Stockport and South Manchester had nearly 3 inches of rain yesterday evening from the thunderstorms that rained off the Man City match, horrendous from all accounts and the photos. Nearly 2 inches seems likely to have fallen in a short time in the city centre. http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsQXu0fWYAEzFQH.jpg:medium

The Met Office extremes web page for the north west which shows 22.6mm in Rochdale as the highest rainfall for the 24 hours to 9pm yesterday evening (13th.) is clearly utterly bonkers.

Extremely warm tonight in Central London.

Tuesday was a scorcher. Unbelievable for mid September!