A mostly sunny morning means that a total of 5.1 hours of sunshine has already been recorded for today at Edinburgh Gogarbank.

There is a slight breeze from off the North Sea though which means that it is at those more sheltered inland stations which are furthest away from the east coast where today's highest temperatures are likely to be recorded.

With that in mind, the temperature at 12 noon was 25.3°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 22°C at Edinburgh Airport and 22.3°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

That already makes today the second hottest day of this year so far at Edinburgh Gogarbank and if any records are going to be broken here during today, that is where this is most likely to happen.

33.1c at 13:00, a small amount of cloud developing.

Clouded over 15 minutes ago, and it looks as though there is a small shower a few miles west of here (S Tonbridge).

Temp. now up to 36*C (97*F) which is the hottest weather that I have experienced in the UK.

Only brief sunny intervals in the past hour or so.  Very humid.

32.2c now after a max. of 34.2 at 13:31

30.0c. Humidity 38% Rh.

In an extraordinary day here in Edinburgh, it has been very hot with increasingly hazy (due to the build-up of heat and humidity) sunshine and although there is now a bit more in the way of cloud around, a total of 9.8 hours of sunshine has been recorded for today so far at Edinburgh Gogarbank as at 5pm this afternoon.

The temperatures have varied quite a lot across my three local stations due to an onshore wind from off the North Sea and at two of my three local stations, they have not yet peaked for today (the one station where we have reached a maximum value is at Edinburgh Gogarbank, but I have gone more into that in the historic thread).

Meanwhile, the temperature at 5pm this afternoon was 29.9°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank but just 23°C at Edinburgh Airport and 26.1°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

I've been out for the afternoon and just got back to check the records and I see that the max. temp. here in Tonbridge today was 37.4*C  (99.4*F) at 3.00pm thanks to a small surge when it had climbed 2degC in 45 minutes.  Now dropped to 35.9*C.

Mostly cloudy now.  I've been watching that mass of rainfall moving north from the Rouen area and reckoning that it would pass to the east of here (following the Eastbourne - Cranbrook - Sittingbourne axis just like last time) but in the last 45 minutes a heavy shower has popped up just south of here, and the sky is looking threatening to the south, so I might be posting in the convection thread after all.

Edited to add: just heard a rumble of thunder to the south.

Sun is back out, temp 32.1c.

32.7c at 19:03

Gusty wind maybe 30mph, still 31.2c

Just had a spell of heavy rain along with a close bolt of lightning, also gusty at times. But I would class this as a fairly low grade storm since I have experienced far worse & violent ones in the past.

8.0 mm of rain so far this evening but still very warm at 25 c.

I can hear my beloved lawn sighing in relief.

A bit of cloud but still plenty of blue sky. Temp still 32c!  

After such a hot and sunny day, this evening has been a bit of an anti-climax apart from the sight of a distant flash of lightning from a nearby line of thunderstorms which refused to pass over this part of the world. That was generally a much cloudier period, but the skies have cleared once again now although it remains very hazy and very humid.

The end result of this is that a total of 9.9 hours of sunshine was recorded for today in the end at Edinburgh Gogarbank, but with nothing at all in that department since 6pm this evening although this was still enough to make today our second sunniest day of this month.

However, it is the temperatures which have made the biggest headlines here as today's maximum temperature was a very impressive 30.9°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 23°C at Edinburgh Airport and 26.1°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh, so there was quite a massive range of temperatures across all of my three local stations during today.

Today was officially the hottest day on record here in Edinburgh, and today's maximum temperature at Edinburgh Gogarbank has set a new all time record for the highest ever recorded temperature at that particular station, so today is clearly massive odds on to be hottest day of the year there once we get to the end of this year.

Yet, today was only the second hottest day of this month at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

The temperatures have dropped quite a lot during this evening, especially at Edinburgh Gogarbank where such a drop in the temperature would normally be enough to make it quite cold. However, it was so hot there to begin with that even with that massive drop in the temperature, it is still very warm and humid here.

With that in mind, the temperature at 10pm tonight was 19.4°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 18°C at Edinburgh Airport and 18.3°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.