13/05/2008 02:36:00
People across Britain have been enjoying the hottest May since meteorological records began in 1772, according to the Telegraph.
The Central England Temperature (CET), which is the world's oldest available instrumental record of temperature, reports that the average temperature for the first ten days of May was 14.7 C.
This reading just pips the second highest average temperature in May of 14.3 C, which was recorded in 1802. The average long-term temperature for May, according to the CET, is 10.3 C.
Sunday was officially the hottest day of the year, with temperatures in Great Malvern in Worcestershire coming in top at 27.5 C. This was even higher than temperatures in Athens and the Algarve in Portugal, which only reached 20 C.
It wasn't all sunshine this weekend, however. Merseyside saw heavy rainfall and some floods, which resulted in the evacuation of John Lennon Airport in Liverpool.
What's more, the rain is likely to spread to the rest of the country soon. Helen Chivers from the Met Office stated: "It has been a record-breaking start to May. It has been the hottest daily mean temperature since 1772.
"But now, I'm afraid, temperatures are going to drop a little bit every day through the week. Temperatures will fall to around what we normally expect at this time of year. It will feel quite humid and we expect that pattern of showers to continue through the weekend."
The CET is measured over a triangular area of Britain, with London, Bristol and Lancashire in each corner.