October weather sets records as temperatures soar
The balmy October weather has created beautiful autumnal scenes across the UK. Photo: PA
As the end of October arrives, it will go down as one of the hottest since weather records began.
The super-hot autumn heatwave at the beginning of the month saw people packed on British beaches like sardines, supermarkets selling out of BBQ burgers, and coastal hotels completely packed out.
The top temperature was of 30c (86f) was recorded in Yorkshire on 1 October, with Gravesend, Kent not far behind with 29.9c (85.82f) - making it the hottest October day for more than a century.
The previous hottest October day was 29.4C, recorded in Cambridgeshire in 1985.
Overall, Britain enjoyed its warmest October for five years and its seventh warmest since records began, according to weather historian Philip Eden, for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association.
The balmy autumn was relatively dry, too, with average rainfall of 64mm for the month and less than 20mm in the East Midlands, East Anglia and the north Home Counties.
This made it drier than three out of four of the last 100 Octobers.
It was sunnier than three-quarters of all Octobers in the last 100 years, with an average of 123 hours of sunshine for England and Wales, and 69 hours for Scotland.
The average maximum temperature for October ranged from 18.1C at Heathrow, Kew Gardens, St James's Park and Olympic Park South in London to 10.5C at Dalwhinnie, Inverness-shire.
The Midlands enjoyed a 3.5C boost to its average and most regions saw a rise of 1.5C to 2.5C.
Mean minimum temperatures varied from 12.8C at St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight and Portland in Dorset to 6.3C at Loch Glascarnoch and Elphin.
The recent balmy weather has also created some of the most beautiful autumnal scenes, with red and gold leaves blooming across the country.
And, as one of the warmest Octobers on record draws to a close, the balmy weather is set to continue, with temperatures of up to 64F expected this week.
Make the most of the mild weather with these beautiful walks across the UK:
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