Britain sees temperature hit 100-degrees Fahrenheit for first time

LONDON (AFP) Aug 10, 2003
Britain on Sunday experienced its first-ever recorded temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) as sweltering weather conditions blanketed the south of the country, forecasters said.

The temperature in the shade at Heathrow airport, just west of London, hit 37.9 Celsius (100.2 Fahrenheit) just before 3:00pm (1400 GMT), the Met Office, Britain's government meteorological bureau, told AFP.

"The temperatures are still climbing, so we might well go even higher soon," a spokesman said.

Earlier in the day the previous record high of 37.1 degrees CelsiusFahrenheit), set in Cheltenham, central England in August 1990, was exceeded, also at Heathrow.

British temperature statistics go back to the mid-1870s, when measuring techniques were first standarised.

TERRA.WIRE