The has officially declared the hottest day of 2025 so far, with the mercury surging across the UK following a record-breaking March. Temperatures reached beyond those in some European holiday hotspots today, with wall-to-wall sunshine bringing 23°C highs today in Gosport, .

The UK is warmer than Marbella and in , Mykonos in and even Los Angeles in , with maps showing heat blasts centred on southwest England and , where temperatures have edged towards the mid-20C range. Some parts of central England saw “nearer to what we’d expect in July”, the said, smashing the previous record of 21.3C in Northolt, west , and Chertsey, Surrey, on March 20.

The Met Office said it is not only the warmest day of he year, but the hottest since September 21 last year. Tweeting the record temperature, the Met Office said: "Very warm for early April across the south where temperatures have reached 23°C today, making today the warmest day since the 21st September 2024. Further north and east, it has felt distinctly chilly with highs of 8°C in Edinburgh

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Southern approached the record earlier this week as the region hit highs of 20.7C on Thursday, while Achnagart in the Scottish Highlands reached 20.1C. Eastern areas of the country have been cooler due to easterly winds over the North Sea.

The Met Office said the heat has primarily hit western and inland areas. It said: “Temperatures (on Thursday) have been nearer to what we’d expect in July in some inland and western areas, but conversely a chilly easterly breeze has kept many eastern coastal regions much colder.”

The average temperature for this time of year is around 12C in England and 10C in . The Met Office expects high pressure to prevail during early April, with the agency's long-range forecast covering April 8 to 17 predicting "lengthy spells of dry and bright weather".

The forecast predicts more "very warm days" before April showers arrive halfway through the month and bring an end to the mini-heatwave. It states: "High pressure should prevail for most of the outlook period, maintaining largely settled conditions for much of the time.

"This should result in lengthy spells of dry and bright weather. It will be breezy at times, especially in the southwest at first. Daytime temperatures will depend on the wind direction and cloud amounts, but most places will be warm for most of the period, and very warm days most likely will be further inland.

"Overnight frosts are possible on clear nights where winds fall light. There is also the chance of some areas of low cloud or fog, notably around the east coast. Towards the middle of April, the weather may turn more unsettled as rain or showers try to push in from the west."

Weather maps have shown temperatures could plummet by more than 20C from the latest highs, and back into the single figures as early as April 15.

Areas that welcomed today's highest temperatures such as Wales and parts of southwest England could see the mercury dip as low as 1C.

The stunning weather has arrived as a double-edged sword in some places, with firefighters having tackled major blazes in Scotland and Dorset.

In Scotland, crews have been fighting a large grass fire at Gartur Moss in Port of Menteith, Stirling. The alarm was raised around noon on Wednesday and four fire engines remained at the scene on Thursday morning.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said the blaze stretched half a kilometre.

It added that a “very high to extreme” risk of wildfire remains across the country until Monday and urged the public not to light fires outdoors.

Crews have already extinguished a wildfire near Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire and another in the Kilpatrick Hills near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, earlier this week.