The peak of the heat looks like being in the far east, and there’s a bit of a black hole in the Met station network there. Very few stations in eastern Essex/Suffolk/Norfolk. 

Looks like we're a long way off today's record - I don't think anywhere has even risen above 30C yet.

Cavendish is 30.4c

Met office now going for 36c on Friday might get the July record. 

Yes the ARPEGE has 36C by 12 noon on Friday! (well 1pm BST)

A really big temperature gradient though, those to the west of London will wonder what the fuss is about as it will be 10C lower!

That's a crazy looking chart , we prob need the heat a little further west if we want to beat the July record. Will be close though

Hopefully we get some of this next week. Looking like the heatwave will take a break for us all. Just a shame our drought record will be missed if we get the storms on Friday

It was only just after 1 p.m. when you posted. At this time of the year the maximum typically isn't reached till about 3 or sometimes even 4.

For here in Edinburgh, I have even seen a few occasions recently when the maximum is not actually reached until 6pm. What tends to happen in these cases is that we might reach what looks like the maximum temperature at around 4pm with the temperature then dropping back by around 5pm. Sometimes though, a burst of sunshine coming through can then result in the temperature going up again, an then often overshooting that earlier maximum when it comes to 6pm.

That indeed, is what has happened today at Edinburgh Gogarbank because after reporting in the current conditions thread that today's maximum for Edinburgh Gogarbank was 19.5ºC with the temperature at 5pm then having dropped slightly to 19.1ºC,, the temperature at that station then went up again to 19.7ºC at 6pm which now, becomes today's maximum so far as that is higher than the maximum temperature which I had already reported.

I assume there is still no way, for free, to see the the met office observation data live?

for instance, the station that made hottest day of the year yesterday in Suffolk... the data is not publicly available?

31.4C in Cavendish is the hottest i can find today. 

It is frustrating that we don't have full access to all the data not sure why.

Yes but cloud had come in and the temps had started to dip already, eg the hourly figures for 1pm were lower than 12 noon.

12Z Arpege still going for 36C on Friday. It's such a narrow sliver though, that it would probably not get recorded on any official stations even if it did come off.

Today’s hotspot appears to be Cavendish. Hourly maximum was 31.4C so the absolute maximum could be quite a bit higher.

Gravesend recorded 31.0C which was 1.2C higher than the highest hourly reading.

Cavendish is about 10 miles north of here, right on the Suffolk / Essex border. Seems to get a few highest maxes. Lovely village too.

Meanwhile, only 21C predicted for a spot just north of Brackley in Northamptonshire, only 20C for Southampton, and 17C/18C or much of the South Coast. I assume the Brackley figure is indicating cloud / storms, and the coastal figures due to onshore wind.

Also interesting to see a 35C and 20C next to each other over Bungay and Lowestoft in Suffolk. That's quite some temperature gradient!

First time I’ve really felt uncomfortable. I notice deepoints are up - 15C at London City Apt which is nothing special by normal year’s standards but very high for 2018. LCY also the current U.K. hotspot at 26C, and it really feels like it.

Yorkshire and Humber has been upgraded to a Level 3 heatwave alert, NW England up to Level 2. NE England still Level 1.

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

You may finally get your 30c tomorrow depending on cloud amounts. 

https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/10155995103432217/

The lovely Thomas explains the hot weather.

Looks like another date record is safe, 33.9C is the record and the peak so far is 31.0C at St James's Park.

i suspect that the next two date records will go.

my thermometer is showing 32.9c here 

i guess there will be hot spots and you have to be a recording point to qualify