THUNDERSTORMS are expected to finally bring the 40C heatwave to an end tomorrow afternoon.
A yellow storm warning is in place from 1pm with heavy showers, floods and lightning forecast.
It covers areas in southern and eastern England including Peterborough, Norwich, Oxford and London.
Parts of the north west of England also got a new yellow thunderstorm warning from 4pm today amid extreme heat warnings across the county.
Temperatures are also set to rise again within days with highs of 27C currently forecast for Sunday.
It comes after temperatures today hit 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, the Met Office said.
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And at least 29 observation sites across England provisionally broke 2019’s previous UK record temperature of 38.7C, the meteorologists said.
Scotland also had its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching 34.8C in Charterhall, provisional data shows.
Records first began in 1910, and the Met Office responsible for keeping track of temperatures ever since.
The record applies only to the UK, with today’s 40.3C dwarfed by the world-record 56.7C recorded in California in 1913.
Despite another day of travel chaos, huge crowds rushed to parks and beaches across the country.
Thousands of workers worked from home again amid fears of rail chaos.
Last night was the warmest night in the UK since records began, as Met Office forecasters recorded highs of 25.9C in Emley Moor, near Huddersfield.
Today a string of fires broke out across the South East and the London Fire Service declared the situation a major incident.
Tragically, a man in his 70s last night became the twelfth person to die in the heatwave.
It came after a 14-year-old boy was feared to have drowned after getting into difficulties in the Thames in Richmond, West London.
And cops scrambled to save a 16-year-old boy after he began struggling in Bray Lake, Maidenhead, Berkshire, at around 11.45am.
A total of 21 train operators have announced slower services to stop tracks buckling – with Network Rail warning commuters that train times could more than double due to speed restrictions.
And the chances of services returning to normal by midweek will depend on any “damage that the weather does to the infrastructure” on Monday and Tuesday, travellers have been told.
Network Rail has issued a “do not travel” warning today to areas that fall within the Met Office’s extreme heat warning zone.
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No Thameslink or Great Northern services are scheduled to run north from London all day.
And around 220,000 passengers will be hit as all East Coast Main Line services from London King’s Cross are called off in the heat.
