The heatwave will end with a bang as “intense” thunderstorms hit this week, forecasters have warned.
As the country sizzled again, the highest recorded temperature was 34.9C in Charlwood, Surrey.
Beaches in Bournemouth and Weymouth, Dorset, and Brighton, East Sussex were packed with holidaymakers and daytrippers.
Visitors to the Boardmasters 2022 festival packed Newquay, Cornwall, while Greenwich and other London parks were scorched dry due to lack of water.
Blackpool beach was packed with sun worshippers yesterday while families also enjoyed trips to Whitley Bay.
The North is set to be hit by thunder, hail and lightning in the coming days as the extreme weather comes to an end.
The Met Office forecast a period of settled weather by the end of this month.
“Next week the summer will end with a ‘bang’ as intense thunderstorms are forecast,” said a spokesman.
“Other areas will perceive the change as a ‘whimper’. The rain could be of sufficient intensity to result in high-velocity flows, flash flooding and debris. Some areas will see extreme rainfall.”
However, the storms are not predicted to be widespread enough or long-lasting enough to affect the drought.
Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said: “Drought will not disappear in a matter of days. It’s going to take a long period of sustained rainfall.”
The recent hot weather has already seen several wildfires across England.
Lincolnshire Police confirmed a teenage boy died after getting into the sea at Skegness on Saturday.
Emergency services were called at 6.15pm about a child under 16 “in the water”.
A search was carried out by police and the coastguard and the boy’s body was recovered at around 11.30pm, the force added. No further details were given.
His death was confirmed after a body was also found in a Doncaster lake by South Yorkshire Police. Emergency services received reports of a man in his 20s in difficulty at Lakeside at 4.10pm on Saturday. A body was recovered hours later.
Many areas experienced higher temperatures than 30C over the weekend. After drought was declared in eight areas on Friday, 18 water companies had sites with no water or poor pressure.
It covered millions of people living in the areas served by Thames Water, Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Welsh Water, from Oxfordshire and London, to Warwickshire.
Surrey and West Sussex water supplies returned after issues hit the Netley Mill Water Treatment Works. Thames Water apologised and handed out bottled water in Guildford, Surrey Hills, Dorking and Horsham.
Residents were told water was “gradually returning to the area”.
An amber weather warning for extreme heat was in place until 11.59pm last night in the south, east, west, Midlands and north of England.
People were told to expect “adverse health effects”, such as sunburn or heat exhaustion. After the driest July on record for East Anglia, south-east and southern England, Odiham in Hampshire is believed to be one of the driest spots – it has received little or no rain since June 30.
Fire crews were called to extinguish a crop blaze at Wye in Ashford, Kent.
Safety barriers on the A63, East Yorkshire appeared to have buckled in the heat. They were installed last year between junction 38 of the M62 and South Cave. And boats were left marooned at Linthwaite, West Yorks, after the Huddersfield Narrow canal dried up.
“Everyone who uses water must use it wisely,” said Harvey Bradshaw, chairman of the National Drought Group. “We have got to rethink, and that means everyone, not just regulators and government.”
The Football Supporters’ Association urged clubs change rules to help fans in scorching hot stands.
Games took place on Hackney Marshes, East London, despite the pitches being bone dry.
It will take sustained rainfall for levels to return to normal but conditions are likely to be more settled towards the end of August.
Temperatures will be above average with the chance of occasional very warm spells, according to the Met Office’s long term forecast.
