It’s a record as hot spellcontinues into the weekend

Four- year-old Brendan Tennant from North Yorkshire was enjoying splashing in the sea on the beach at Sandsend yesterday as forecasters predicted another sunny day today – followed by another and another.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Sep 2011, 10:15 BST

Most parts of England and Wales hit 20C (68F) yesterday as the “Indian summer” got into its stride.

The technical explanation is high pressure drifting over from Europe, bringing warm southerly winds and squeezing out cloud.

Yorkshire and most of England and Wales can expect more of the same until halfway through Sunday at least, but Northern Ireland and parts of western Scotland could see heavy rain tomorrow and over the weekend. Yesterday, the mercury peaked at 26C (78.8F) in Gravesend, Kent, and the Yorkshire coast was packed with visitors enjoying the sunshine.

The hottest September 29 was recorded in York in 1895 when the mercury peaked at 27.8C (82F), and meteorologists think the record could be broken during the unusual mini-heatwave.

The hottest place in Britain on Wednesday was St Helier, in Jersey, where the heat soared to 27.3C (81.1F).