St. James’s Park is a long-established Met Office station dating back to around 1883 and is frequently among Britain’s warmest locations. In July 2024, the station recorded a high of 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31.7 Celsius) during a heat wave that prompted widespread health alerts across England.

Welsh Water has urged customers to consider their water usage, with rainfall currently 30% lower than levels in 2022 when parts of Wales last faced a hosepipe ban. BBC Wales meteorologist Derek Brockway said the new record for 1 May in Wales had seen temperatures 10 degrees above average,

Record breaking heat arrived in London on Thursday (May 1), with record breaking temperatures reaching 28 degrees celsius.

Lawyers, teachers and politicians marched among thousands of demonstrators across the U.S. on Thursday to protest President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, the targeting of lawyers and judges,