The Met Office has issued thunderstorm warnings which could affect Cambridgeshire today.
A yellow weather warning has been issued for parts of the South West, West Midlands, East Midlands and East of England between 3pm and 10pm on Tuesday May 26.
Isolated thunderstorms with lightning, hail and gusty winds are expected, the Met Office said, while there is potential for 30mm of rain in less than an hour.
Meanwhile, the hottest May temperature could be broken again on Tuesday with highs of 35C forecast across large swathes of southern England and Wales – which could even creep up to 36C, the Met Office said, although this could be reduced by the storms.
On Monday, the UK recorded its provisional all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature when Kew Gardens in south-west London hit 34.8C.
The country also experienced a “tropical night” as the record for the warmest minimum temperature for May was broken for the second consecutive day.
To qualify as a heatwave, temperatures must meet or surpass a specific threshold for three consecutive days.
The highest heatwave threshold in the UK at this time of year is 28C, which applies to London and areas north of the capital towards Cambridgeshire.
Temperatures will start to gradually decline from the middle of the week but it will still be largely dry with sunny spells.
Many will still experience temperatures in the high 20s.
However, they will lower by around 10C in eastern areas as a brisk easterly wind develops.
If validated, the latest May record means seven of the 12 monthly highs have been set since 2003, the Met Office said.
A previous study by the forecasters found breaking that record “is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in a natural climate not impacted by greenhouse gas emissions”.
This means that the event once judged a one-in-a-100-year event is now a one-in-33-year event, it said.
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