The average maxima in Wanstead so far this summer is 22C, some 0.8C higher than in 1990 – the year an August heatwave saw the UK’s max record broken with 37C in Cheltenham. Media at the time said: “I wonder if the UK will ever see 100F?

The temperature in Wanstead on August 3rd reached 35.8C, my station notes for the day say: ‘dry, sunny and very, very hot’.

Will we see a similar heatwave next month? The weather models tonight suggest not, a flat westerly flow keeping any extreme heat in Iberia.

However, in keeping with summers that occur after an El Nino event, the core of any heat usually happens in late summer – August into September.