Forecasters predict hottest day of the year
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Your support makes all the difference.Today is set to be the hottest day of the year, with forecasters predicting temperatures will hit 30C (86F).
Britons have been enjoying a weekend heatwave, basking in sunshine yesterday as the mercury rose into the high 20s.
The warm weather prompted bookmakers to cut the odds of a record-breaking summer.
Before today the hottest day of the year was May 24, when the temperature reached 28.8C (84F) at Heathrow Airport and the Olympic Park in east London.
Thousands made the most of the conditions yesterday, flocking to beaches and parks or soaking up the rays with barbecues in the garden.
Temperatures reached a high of 28.6C (83.5F) at Charlwood in Surrey yesterday as large swathes of England got into the swing of summer.
The sweltering conditions come as millions prepare to watch England take on the arch enemy, Germany, in the World Cup.
Thousands of revellers at Glastonbury music festival have also been able to ditch their wellies for the first time in years and party in the sunshine.
Ladbrokes offered 3/1, cut from 7/2, that the highest ever UK temperature of 38.5C (101.3F) recorded at Brogdale, near Faversham, Kent, in 2003 will be beaten.
Spokesman Nick Weinberg said: "We're feeling the heat as temperatures continue to soar."
William Hill meanwhile set odds of 16/1 that temperatures will top 100F (37.8C) at Wimbledon 2010 and 5/1 that the temperature will break the 100F mark at any time this year.
"It looks like we are in for a red hot summer and the 5/1 currently on offer for temperatures to top 100F this year will not last long," spokesman Rupert Adams said.
People in London and the South East have been enjoying the sunniest spells but sunseekers in Northern Ireland and Scotland faced cloud and a risk of heavy showers, possibly even thunderstorms.
Weather forecaster Steve Ellison, from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the heatwave was caused by a ridge of high pressure across central and eastern England.
He said: "It's looking pretty hot and sunny this weekend, especially across southern areas. The rest of Europe is pretty hot over the weekend too."
Tesco said it expected to sell a million burgers, nine million fresh sausages and 700,000 bags of salad as summer sporting parties got under way.
Asda said its clothing line George at Asda has sold 165,000 bikinis in recent days, up 47% on this time last year.
Bosses at West Midlands Safari Park said they were ready for an influx of visitors.
Director of wildlife, Bob Lawrence, said: "We're geared up for people coming, especially as we're getting into the peak season now anyway."
And he said while some might be sweltering in the hotter weather, the animals at the park were more than used to it.
"We occasionally give them ice lollies prepared with fruit and veg frozen into them," he said.
"We've got plenty of pools where the animals can wallow, and the elephants spray themselves down, we hose them down too.
"But a lot of our animals are African and Asian so their metabolism is geared up for the heat."
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