Earliest date for 25C temperature recorded in town

University of Reading meteorologists said Wednesday was the earliest April date that temperatures hit 25C in the town on record.

Its Atmospheric Observatory said similar temperatures are not usually seen until the second half of May.

The earliest date the maximum temperature hit 25C was previously 16 April, which was recorded in 1943, 1945, 1949 and 2003.

The warm weather is not expected to last or return in the next few days, with temperatures at the weekend only set to reach 12C or 13C.

Dr Stephen Burt, from the university's meteorology department, said: "Our records began in 1908, and this is the earliest such date on which 25C has been attained, by more than a week."

On Wednesday, a high of 26.6C was recorded at Kew Gardens in London and exceeded the 24.8C recorded on Tuesday at Mona on Anglesey, which was briefly the warmest day of the year so far.

The highest temperature ever recorded in April in the UK was at Camden Square in London, when 29.4C was reached on 16 April 1949.

"Sadly temperatures are going to start falling away," the BBC's senior weather presenter Alexis Green said.

"We have got a cold front, a band of rain moving its way eastwards across the region, and once that moves through, temperatures will drop like a stone, perhaps to around 2C or 3C out in the countryside.

"It's a chilly start to the day [on Friday]. The air will not be as warm as recent days [and will be] 10C lower than what we had [on Wednesday] and up to around 12C and 13C."