UK breaches 40C temperature for first time: Met Office

People carry umbrellas to hide in their shadow during a heatwave, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2022. Credit: Reuters Photo

Britain on Tuesday recorded its first ever temperature exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the mercury provisionally registering 40.2C at Heathrow Airport, the country's meteorological agency the Met Office said.

It comes within an hour of the UK smashing its previous all-time temperature record -- of 38.7C, set in Cambridge in eastern England in 2019 -- and comes amid a fierce heatwave sweeping northwest Europe.