The 31.1 at Hurn (ie Bournemouth Airport) is the national max quoted on the MetO website this morning

Yes much better than the plume type warmth that we've tended to see in more recent summers past, where the West often never sees the heat, Central areas for a day or two, the SE for a bit longer then a washout from the Atlantic. 

The 31.8°C at Heathrow was the day before.

A level 2 heatwave alert is in place for all regions in England expect the north-west and northeast. The warning is in place until Saturday but is expected to be extended.

Current watch level: Level 2 - Alert and Readiness

Issued at: 08:31 on Tue 3 Jul 2018

There is a 70 % probability of heatwave conditions between 0900 on Tuesday and 0700 on Saturday in parts of England.

Temperatures are expected to temporarily reduce a little night and day through the middle of this week, before lighter winds allow higher temperatures across more eastern areas of England during Thursday and to some extent during Friday. Relative to the alert issued yesterday, Monday 02 July, all areas of England are now on a level 2 alert - aside from Northwest and Northeast which remain below threshold. Southeast and Southwest have also been downgraded from level 2 from 3. This alert has been issued for the maximum duration possible. It is very likely to be extended for similar areas later this working week, provisionally Thursday or Friday as heat is expected to build towards the weekend and possibly during the following week. Even in areas that do not breach their alert criteria, the headline is that it is expected to remain largely dry, often sunny and very warm at times.

An update will be issued when the alert level changes in any region. Alerts are issued once a day by 0900 if required and are not subject to amendment in between standard issue times. Note that the details of the forecast weather are valid at the time of issue but may change over the period that an alert remains in force. These details will not be updated here unless the alert level also changes, the latest forecast details can be obtained at the following link: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/#?tab=map

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/heat-health/#?tab=heatHealth

The high the day before was 32.2c, Gosport (1st July)

If this continues into August, it will be similar to 1976.

The difference in 1976 though is that the massive summer heatwave and drought followed a dry winter, so reservoir and ground water levels were already low, leading to early hosepipe bans and standpipes in many communities.

Thus far, England (though not NI) has not had hosepipe bans imposed, since reservoir levels are currently generally good - the question is, should the water companies pre-emptively impose hosepipe bans in any case, as a contingency?

Yes please. If it would stop the daily evening chorus of jet washer on Mercedes then I'm in.

For some reason, while nearly everywhere in the UK has clear skies today, we have partly cloudy skies. The low cloud simply turned into cumulus rather than melting away entirely. I really don't get that.

In any case, it's 21C and certainly feels a lot cooler than it has been for the past 11 or so days. Tomorrow looks the same, with Thursday bringing a return to very warm conditions - though there's a good chance Wednesday will remain cloudy all day which is something we haven't seen for a good long while (and I'm not looking forward to it).

There's a very slow moving front tracking southward over the N. Sea today and tomorrow, and I suspect the increase in cloud today and forecast tomorrow is related to that. The front started life as a cold front, is then forecast to occlude, then a warm front by tomorrow... 

Thanks for that. Of course something had to go and spoil things for us. 

Same here too and stayed in often and no windows facing the game force winds was open only ajar while  rest opened.  not sure why is gale force winds under high pressure system and live far away from the coast.

It's not too bad here now - some fair weather cumulus and long sunny spells. Tomorrow could be a bit grim in the morning, but the rest of the week and weekend looks better with the prospect of ditching the easterly drift at last.

It's the same here, typically this would be a perfectly nice day but I must admit I was enjoying those crystal clear skies we've become so accustomed to. 

21.1c with good sunny spells and a bit of patchy cloud.

ah okay.. for some reason  it was showing mixed dates early this morning - yesterdays date with wrong info.

Gosport doesn't have an official station...

Nearby Portsmouth did get very close to 32C though - indeed locally towards the city core it might have.

Cloudless here now. How can anyone complain about our weather at the moment?

None of these temperatures are high enough to make today, the warmest day of this year so far or the warmest day of this summer so far. Nevertheless, these temperatures do mean that today will go down as the warmest day of this month so far at all three of my local stations.

Met Office automated forecasts for here suggest alot of cloud tomorrow at times well into the late afternoon.

Text forecast says:
'A warmer day for most, with early mist clearing eastern areas to reveal another dry day with long sunny periods. Perhaps cloudier and cooler at times in coastal districts. Maximum temperature 26 °

We will see which is right but i bet the automated. Not sure it will be warmer here tommorow.

Yeah, I love how their automated forecast says one thing and their text one another. 

I suspect tomorrow will either be totally cloudy or cloudy well into the afternoon. We reached a rounded 25C today and there is no way we'll reach that tomorrow without sunshine during the day - and  Even their 22C is optimistic imo.

The BBC forecast is equally as hopeless with contradicting text and automated forecasts.

I'm expecting quite a bit of sunshine tomorrow. The ICON 'cloudiness' output isn't too bad I've found; it goes for much of central England including southern Yorkshire to enjoy a dry and clear slot for much of the day. Not quite the case further north though.

ICON shows the cloud clearing by about 1pm here, but I'm still doubtful.

AROME shows it clearing by midday.

Guess we'll see.