Temperatures soar across UK as summer finally arrives » Environment » 24dash.com

Summer finally arrived in the UK today as thousands took advantage of the good weather to bask in the sun.

The gloomy, cloud-ridden conditions that have passed for this year's summer season were finally banished with blue skies and soaring temperatures.

Forecasters have predicted that today could turn out to be the hottest day of the year so far and bookies have dropped the odds on record-breaking temperatures being reached.

In London's Green Park hundreds of office workers shed jackets and ties to spend their lunch hours in the sun.

Other sun worshippers settled in for the day in comfy deckchairs.

Even the huge pelicans in neighbouring St James's Park sought sanctuary from the heat as they hid behind ornamental rocks in their pond.

The south east of the country enjoyed the hottest temperatures but there were clear blue skies for much of the UK.

At lunchtime today Heathrow airport was the hottest place in Britain with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius recorded.

But forecasters said the mercury could rise even higher than that throughout the afternoon.

The hottest temperature this year - 28.2 degrees Celsius, was recorded on July 1 just outside London.

The high temperatures are set to continue right into the weekend.

A spokeswoman for MeteoGroup, said: "We are expecting the temperatures to stay quite high for the next few days and we should be seeing some nice weather."

The majority of the UK is again expected to see high temperatures tomorrow with a few scattered showers possible at times in the South West.

The Western Isles and Northern Ireland could also see some light patches of rain.

The good weather has prompted bookmakers Ladbrokes to slash the odds of a record breaking temperature being set.

The record UK temperature stands at 38.5 degrees Celsius set in Brogdale, Kent in 2003.

Ladbrokes set odds odds of 8-1 this May that the Brogdale temperature would be broken this year, they have now slashed those odds to 4-1.

A Ladbrokes spokesman said: "The recent increase in temperatures has caused a surge in our weather market.

"Over the last few days we've seen a lot more people coming in and placing bets on a new temperature record being set."

Buckets and spades were dusted down across the UK as thousands headed off to the beach.

In Margate, Kent, sun seekers crammed on to the golden sands to take advantage of a refreshing dip in the sea.

The good weather is also set to temporarily change our shopping habits.

Sales of barbecues, alcohol and ice-cream traditionally increase during a hot spell.

A spokeswoman for retailing giant Tesco explained: "The recent warm weather has seen our sales in ice cream and our frozen barbecue range increase as people stock up their freezers to be ready for al fresco dining at a moments notice."

Sainsbury's said the hot weather would result in an increase in sales of fruit and vegetables.

A spokeswoman said the supermarket expected to sell 600,000 melons this weekend alone and said that during hot spells up to 800 cucumbers per minute would be sold in stores across the UK as customers snapped them up for Pimms and salad.

The spokeswoman added that Sainsbury's expected enough pork and pepper kebabs to be sold to reach 29,000ft - the equivalent of the height of Mount Everest.