UK basks in sizzling summer sun... but much of NI left out
While England had almost its hottest day of the year, the sunshine in the Province was not what some forecasts had led people to expect.
There was bright sunshine in northern sections of NI, north of Lough Neagh and including the north coast, during most of the morning and until well into the afternoon.
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Hide AdTemperatures reached a scorching 25.3 Celsius (78 Fahrenheit) at the Giant’s Causeway in north Antrim.
But it was cloudy for much of the day in greater Belfast.
South of the Irish land border, it was very sunny down in Co Wexford, as it was in southern England.
Sunday’s top temperatures hit 28C at Heathrow and St James’s Park in London, just shy of the hottest day of 2021.
This was recorded at 28.3C in Northolt, north-west London, on June 2 — although the Met Office said that Monday could still hit 29C.
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Hide AdMeteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said: “We are forecasting that 29C could be the maximum tomorrow. If we do see that 29C, it would be the warmest day of they year so far and it would be in the south east.
“It will be another day of warm weather and it could be just one degree warmer.”
England fans enjoyed full-on sunshine at Wembley as the team secured a 1-0 win against Croatia.
It was a fine day elsewhere as temperatures reached 24C at Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire, with 25.3C recorded at Hawarden Airport in Wales.
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Hide AdThe warm weather is set to hold for a few days before a “thundery breakdown” comes, and it turns a bit fresher.
Some places could see thunderstorms and face potential flooding and travel disruption from Wednesday.
A thunderstorm warning has been issued covering much of England and Wales between 6pm on Wednesday and 6am on Friday.
The Met Office said there is “significant uncertainty” about the location and timing of the thunderstorms but they are expected to move north-east across parts of England and Wales from late Wednesday through to Friday morning.
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Hide AdA spokesman said: “Whilst not all locations will be affected, some intense thunderstorms may occur during this period with torrential rain, hail, frequent lightning and strong gusty winds possible.”
Rainfall totals of around 30mm could fall in an hour. Some locations could potentially get around 50mm in two to three hours, but these would be fairly isolated occurrences, forecasters said.