Soaring temperatures saw Wales record its hottest day of the year so far, but England fell just short of setting a new warmest mark.

The Met Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather service, said Wales’ highest temperature so far this year was recorded in Cardiff’s Bute Park on Monday, where the mercury reached 28.7C.

In a tweet, it stated: “Temperatures widely in excess of 30C across much of England with Wales having it’s hottest day of the year so far.”

In England, temperatures hit a high of 32C in Northolt, west London, followed by 31.8C at Heathrow, Greater London.

England’s hottest temperature so far this year remains the 32.7C recorded at Santon Downham, a village in Suffolk, on June 17, the Met Office said.

Elsewhere, Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, basked in 27.5C and it was 24.2C in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge told the PA news agency: “We are above average across the board by quite a distance, a good minimum 5C above average.

“We have had a number of places across eastern Wales and central/southern England that have been 30C or above for today.

“Tonight is not going to be great either, particularly down East Midlands and Yorkshire area, places there tonight don’t look as if they will drop below 20C, very uncomfortable.

“Technically, if we don’t drop below 20C overnight that is classed as a tropical night, so parts of Yorkshire – which sounds ridiculous – are going to have a tropical night tonight.

“The next few days are slightly less hot, we have a very weak cold front coming across the country tomorrow that will reduce temperatures a little bit.

“So tomorrow we will be looking slightly less, probably around 31C and then the next few days after that will be high 20s – around 27-28C.

“And then around Saturday the temperature will start building back up again.

“Parts of south-east England could exceed 35C on Sunday, with 32C quite widely across the warning area.

“At the moment, we are looking at a 30% chance of seeing the hottest temperature recorded in the UK, if that does happen we will have to record higher than 38.7C – which was back in 2019 in Cambridge.”

He said Monday next week would be “similar” adding that “35C-plus is possible for the South East”.

On Monday afternoon, the Met Office issued an amber weather warning for extreme heat across a large part of the UK ahead of further soaring temperatures this week.

The warning is in place from midnight on Sunday to 11.59pm, when temperatures are predicted to soar into the 30s, but the forecaster added it could be extended to Monday next week.

It is being enforced across the East Midlands, East of England, London, South East, North East, North West, South West, Wales, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.