Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

The German June temperature record has also been broken as provisional temperatures broke 40C at several locations across the country.

Five different weather stations saw reading above 40C, including 40.9C in the western city of Saarbrücken, the German Weather Service tells the AFP news agency.

It bets the previous recorded high of 39.6C for the month of June.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News Presenter and Correspondent

Valentina Capsa is visiting the UK with her two children from Mallorca, Spain, and today they're enjoying a trip to the Hillingdon Lido in west London with friends.

Her children told me earlier that London’s weather is "very nice" and they are used to these hot temperatures.

When asked for advice, Capsa says air conditioning is a must and that it is crucial to look out for those most vulnerable like children and the sick.

"Watch out for them, for your neighbours, for your older neighbours," she says.

Her friend Dana Pintilie, who lives in England, is thinking about the changes she and her family could make if the UK keeps getting hotter.

"If the weather changes, we have to make some changes. The first one is air conditioner... more trees in our garden," she says.

"And we’ll try to enjoy it, to go to the beach and maybe we can improve the beaches a bit."

June's record temperature has been broken again today, with Santon Downham, Suffolk provisionally reaching 37.3C.

It topples the record of 37.1C set earlier in the afternoon, measured in Cavendish, Suffolk.

Jemma Crew
Business reporter

This week we are seeing fewer and disrupted journeys, and more home working. Some workplaces and schools are closed, outdoor professions such as construction may work no or reduced hours, and heat-related sickness will hit productivity. Events are being cancelled.

Other areas will see boosts.

There’s likely to be a run on ice-creams and fans, and greater demand for summer clothes. A surge in sales of goods including sunglasses, sandals and BBQs during last month’s May heatwave fuelled a 3.7% rise in retail sales that month.

Air-conditioned shopping centres and cinemas may also see more footfall as people seek to escape the heat. Verónica Vienne, an environmental economist from the University of Huddersfield, believes the negative effects of extreme heat on the economy “clearly outweigh the positive”.

Image source, Getty Images

She says cities where more heat is trapped and which depend more on service industries are likely to take a greater economic hit, while crops will also suffer.

Vienne says the UK’s rail networks, offices and homes are not built for extreme heat. Until the government invests in adaptation measures to make infrastructure more resilient, she believes heatwaves will get more expensive.

It’s tricky to put a number on these factors. The Office for National Statistics estimates £1.2bn in output could have been lost due to hot days on average each year between 1998 and 2021, based on experimental research.

Some of its more recent research suggests the cooling effect of parks and lakes on urban spaces can avoid hundreds of millions of pounds of productivity losses.

While in the grip of a heatwave it can feel like everything is grinding to a halt, some economists believe the impact is likely to be relatively small in terms of denting overall growth, and caught up at other points in the year.

Mark Poynting
Climate reporter

This heatwave has felt particularly oppressive because it brings with it a double whammy of high temperatures and humidity.

Scientists measure this combination with what’s called the wet-bulb temperature.

Imagine doing a quick experiment where you cover the bulb of a thermometer with a piece of wet cloth.

If the air is dry, the water will begin to evaporate. This uses heat energy, causing the temperature reading to drop.

The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that can be reached through this process.

If the air starts off more humid, it won’t be able to absorb as much moisture – so the wet-bulb temperature will be higher.

The higher the wet-bulb temperature, the harder it is for the body to cool down through the evaporation of sweat.

That is why this week’s temperatures in the mid-thirties might have felt worse than the 40C temperatures of July 2022, when humidity was lower.

Pritti Mistry
Reporting from Lincolnshire

A boy who says he was frustrated with his school's policy of insisting boys have to wear trousers during hot weather chose to wear a skirt to classes in protest.

George, 15, from Keelby in Lincolnshire, says wearing trousers during the heatwave has made it harder to concentrate during exams, and instead has been wearing a friend's skirt for the past two days.

"If girls can wear a skirt and maybe feel a bit cooler, why can't I? So I did," he says.

Caistor Yarborough Academy says it has not sanctioned George, and has since relaxed rules, with pupils allowed to wear PE kit on Friday as a "personalised approach to the uniform policy".

The school says it has informed parents and carers of its decision.

The June temperature record has again been broken with a provisional temperature of 37.1C recorded in Cavendish, Suffolk.

It beats this afternoon's earlier record of 36.9C in Wattisham, Suffolk - which in turn beat Thursday's record of 36.7C in Merryfield, Somerset.

Chris Fawkes
BBC Weather presenter

Thunderstorms are made from air rising quickly through the atmosphere. The sun heats the ground strongly during our summer months and this heats the air up near the ground.

This bubble of warmed air will become more buoyant and will rise upwards through the atmosphere. As the air rises upwards, it cools down.

Moisture in the air can then turn into water droplets and ice crystals. These can sometimes make thunder clouds.

The ice is important for making lightning and the cracks of thunder we hear.

Summer thunderstorms have much more energy in them, so can give us impressive lightning displays, flooding rain or sometimes large hail.

Yellow warnings for thunderstorms are in place in northern England and Northern Ireland into this evening, and in Scotland into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Danny Savage
North of England correspondent

Image source, BBC Weather Watchers/@LizzieMcK

Live weather radar is showing thunderstorms now developing over parts of northern England.

In western parts of North Yorkshire, where car thermometers have been showing 31C outside, permanent rolling thunder has been heard for a while.

Not the odd rumble with a gap, just constant.

The storm is drifting north-eastwards.

As we reported earlier, thunderstorms are expected to develop through the day in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England with the threat of flash-flooding and some large hail.

Sheffield’s tram network has been suspended due to the heat, its operator says.

"While we have experienced high temperatures throughout the week, this afternoon’s forecast is the highest we have seen, and we have therefore taken the decision to temporarily suspend tram services across the network," a spokesperson for Supertram says.

The operator says it will monitor temperatures throughout the afternoon, with services resuming "once conditions have improved".

The M5 in Somerset has reopened in both directions following a defect with overhead power lines.

National Highways warns that there are delays of 160 minutes and 10 miles of congestion in both directions, adding that this will begin to ease.

Image source, Getty Images

As the heatwave persists, a 'cool space' map in London is helping people find somewhere to take respite from the heat.

Through the map, external, those in England's capital can seek shelter in the cool spaces, ranging from the O2 and the Royal Opera House to the Imperial War Museum, churches, community centres and libraries.

Inside they will find cooler temperatures - some have air conditioning - free seating and water, and toilet facilities.

At a minimum, the spaces are open five days a week from 10:00 until 17:00, according to the website.

They can be found across the city, with the map also showing places covered by tree canopy, and areas where the surface temperature is generally cooler.

Michael Race
Business and economics reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Unsurprisingly, as temperatures have soared, sales of fans and air conditioning units have spiked as people seek to stay cool. A quick online search shows many retailers of portable air con units are out of stock.

Covid-era queues were seen outside some Lidl supermarkets ahead of opening hours on Thursday as shoppers flocked to the middle aisle before they sold out. The retailer Curry's told the BBC that it saw air conditioning sales increase 330% in the space of a week.

Lincoln Smith, managing director of Custom Heat in Warwickshire, says he is planning to change his company name due to a steady rise in his business fitting more air conditioning units in homes over the past five years.

"There is a significant demand coming for home comfort and air conditioning," he tells the BBC's Wake Up To Money, adding that because demand is so high, some of his suppliers are saying they won't be able to get units until after the summer.

"We are having to diversify and use other manufacturers to keep up with demand."

Image source, National Highways

The M5 in Somerset is closed in both directions between J22 and J23 due to a risk that overhead electricity cables could fall into the road.

There are currently delays of 115 minutes, with up to 8 miles of congestion both ways, according to National Highways.

National Grid engineers are carrying out "essential repair work" following the fault in the area between Highbridge and Puriton, and it will "reopen the road as soon as it is safe to do so", National Highways reports.

On Wednesday, more than 10 people were taken to hospital for "minor and heat-related conditions" after huge queues of traffic built up on the M25 during the red heat alert following a serious crash between a van and a lorry.

• Stay up-to-date with the M5 closure

As we've just reported, Wattisham, Suffolk has set a new provisional June record temperature of 36.9C.

Here are the highest temperatures recorded in the other UK nations so far today:

Scotland - Eskdalemuir, 28.6C

Wales - Hawarden, 34.0C

Northern Ireland - Katesbridge, 24.1C

Image source, BBC Weather Watchers/@DesM

Jacob Phillips
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

The June heat record for the UK keeps getting pushed higher.

For the third day in a row the record has been broken for the hottest June day, and the Met Office has warned that temperatures are still rising.

Here's a reminder of the numbers behind the record-breaking heatwave:

Wednesday 24 June

The 50-year-old record was toppled when it reached 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, beating the previous highest temperature of 35.6C recorded in Southampton in 1976 and Camden in 1957.

Thursday 25 June

Temperatures of 36.7C were recorded at Merryfield, Somerset, breaking the previous day's record.

Friday 26 June

Temperatures reached 36.9C in Wattisham, Suffolk, setting another new provisional record.

There will be respite however by Sunday, with the Met Office forecasting that many areas will be at least 10C cooler than today.

Friday is the provisional hottest June day on record as 36.9C is recorded in Wattisham, Suffolk, the Met Office says.

This passes the previous record which was set on Thursday when 36.7C was recorded in Merryfield, Somerset.

Image source, EPA

Various museums and tourist attractions have had to make adjustments to manage the soaring temperatures.

Here's what we've seen so far:

Tower Bridge is closed to visitors. The Cutty Sark and Royal Observatory in Greenwich are also closed. The Victoria and Albert Museum has shut some galleries, and the Young V&A is closed until Sunday. The British Museum has warned it may have to close some galleries.

Marwell Zoo in Hampshire has closed its 140-acre site. Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures and Legoland Windsor and are allowing people to swap their tickets for a different day.

Plus, some Greggs stores have also closed during the heatwave, with 11 sites shut since Wednesday.

This comes on top of school closures, with more than 600 shutting in England fully or partially today.