'Extreme' 88F heat causes bridge to swell, rails to buckle and GRITTERS are put on standby to stop roads cracking

Britain has recorded its hottest day of the year for the third consecutive day as temperatures close in on 90F (32C), causing a bridge to swell and railway lines to buckle. 

Gritters and emergency 'action teams' have been put on standby by transport bosses today amid fears that motorways and main roads will melt. 

The record for the year was smashed this afternoon, with 89F (31.9C) registered in Portmadog in Wales.

The sweltering conditions even caused Barton Swing Bridge in Salford, Lancashire to expand, forcing firemen to douse the expanded metal frame in cold water for half an hour to get it to return to normal. 


It comes as it was revealed a 17-year-old swimmer became the third person to die in open water yesterday, after the teenager got into difficulty in the River Aire in Leeds.

A woman drowned in the sea at Eastbourne and a man died in ice cold water in Merstham, Surrey, while this morning the search continued for Ryan Evans, 13, who was last seen struggling to swim in a lake in Stoke-on-Trent.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: 'The temperature seen at Porthmadog will not necessarily be the highest today but it is the record so far this year.

'We could see temperatures keep rising until three or four o'clock.'

The hot weather looks like it is here to stay, the spokesman said. 'Over the next few days the high pressure will remain so there will be blue skies across the UK and that will last certainly into the weekend.

'We may see some thunderstorms on Sunday or Monday but nothing's certain. But we can expect these sorts of high temperatures to be reached certainly until Saturday.'

After a very dry month, there is still no rain on the horizon, particularly if the potential thunderstorms fail to materialise this weekend.

The rising temperatures have come with warnings to be careful near water and in the countryside, where fire crews have been tackling wildfires.





MailOnline