Britain has been basking in sunshine on the hottest day of the year so far, the Met Office has confirmed, as the temperature peaked at 32.6C (90.6F) on Wednesday. That high was recorded in Heathrow, west London, and the mercury was forecast to hit 33C in other parts of the UK, although it remained cooler in northern Scotland. The Met Office said temperatures were unlikely to fall any lower than the high teens overnight and could rise to 34C in the south of England on Thursday. The heatwave, which began on Tuesday and has led to much of the country sweltering in temperatures averaging in the high 20s or low 30s, is expected to continue until Friday. Weather warnings for thunderstorms across much of the UK have been issued for Friday and Saturday. Many people have been flocking to parks and the seaside this week, with the beach in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, just one of many packed with sunbathers and swimmers. The Met Office’s chief meteorologist, Dan Suri, said: “We quite often see warm southerly air from the continent bringing these high temperatures to the UK in summer, however this week the air across the UK has arrived from the Atlantic. “This Atlantic air will descend and warm up as it moves across the UK and this, in combination with clear skies and strong late-June sunshine, is why we are seeing temperatures rise.” The highest UK temperature recorded in June was 35.6C, set at Mayflower Park in Southampton, on 28 June 1976. While many have been enjoying the sunshine this week, others will be alarmed at the soaring temperatures amid reports of global heating in other parts of the world. The Met Office said parts of northern Eurasia had been experiencing extremely high temperatures this year because of a combination of climate change and extreme climate variability. In May, surface temperatures in parts of Siberia were 10C above average amid a prolonged heatwave that climate scientists described as “undoubtedly alarming”. The Russian town of Khatanga, which usually has daytime temperatures of about 0C at this time of year, hit 25C on 22 May. There has been speculation that 2020 could become the hottest year on record, but Prof Adam Scaife, the head of the Met Office’s long-range prediction, said that was unlikely. “We are likely to have seen the most extreme global temperatures already this year,” he said.