Dozens of British schools have been forced to close and transport bosses have warned people against all but essential travel, amid rare red warnings over extreme temperatures that are predicted to hit record highs for June.
A "heat-dome" settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of up to 40C in some parts of England and Wales in the middle part of the week, the Met Office said.
Temperatures for the latest heatwave are likely to overtake the June record set in Hampshire in 1976 by several degrees and could come close to the UK's all-time high of 40.3C in July 2022.
