Record heat in Belgium and Britain

 

TT-AFP

 

Published 19.26

 

Londoners cool off in the summer's record heat. Archive photo. Photo: Kin Cheung /AP/TT

Great Britain and Belgium have both recorded their hottest summers since records began.

The UK's meteorological office announced on Tuesday that last year's summer record had been broken. The Met Office recorded an average temperature of 16.5 degrees from June to August. The previous record was 16.1 degrees. Persistent drought during the heatwaves made things worse.

Belgium announced that the reference station for temperature measurements, Uccle outside Brussels, recorded an average temperature of 20.3 degrees - 2.4 degrees above the average temperature in recent decades.

The country began temperature measurements in 1833.

"This is a record high when the average temperature has exceeded 20 degrees," the RMI institute said.

Previously, record temperatures this summer have been noted in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.