Cooler conditions on way for parts of UK - but still no rain for drought-hit areas

Cooler conditions and some rain are on the way for parts of UK on Thursday into the weekend, as a cold front moves into the UK.

However, with more than half of England and parts of Wales officially in drought, the coming days are unlikely to bring any rain to the driest areas of the country.

The latest UK heatwave peaked on Wednesday with temperatures soaring to 35.2C at Writtle in Essex. It was the hottest day for more than two weeks, when 35.2C was also recorded in Cotton in the Elms, Derbyshire, on 10 July.

It did not reach the highs experienced last month, when a new UK June temperature record of 38C was set at Lingwood in Norfolk on the 26th, which was also the hottest day of the year so far.

Last month's record was provisionally reported as 37.7C but the Met Office announced on Wednesday a new figure of 38.0C following a verification process.

It comes after drought was declared across more than half of England on Wednesday as hot, dry weather takes its toll on the country's water supplies.

The Environment Agency (EA) announcement covered much of central, eastern and southern England, and was a public sign that further restrictions on water use might follow.

It added that the impacts are already being felt, including low river flows, early harvests and high risk of wildfires. More than 20 million people are already under hosepipe bans.

North Wales and the Upper Severn river basin entered drought conditions last week, Natural Resources Wales said.

Scotland does not declare drought but monitors "water scarcity". Some parts of eastern Scotland are in the most extreme category of "significant scarcity", according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Northern Ireland is not currently in drought.