Thursday and Friday were the two hottest days of the year in Huddersfield.
Temperatures rose to a sweltering 30.8°C on both days – hotter than some Mediterranean resorts!
Today is set to be a little cooler, with breezes from the east, but the heat will pick up again through tomorrow and Monday and we could again enjoy record temperatures.
But the hot weather is not good for everyone.
Duncan Henderson is Kirklees Council’s parks operations manager and he and his team face the daunting task of watering hundreds of thousands of plants and huge swathes of lawns and playing fields.
It’s a massive headache and completely different to last summer, which was dominated by torrential rain.
Mr Henderson said: “We are struggling to cope.
“We are okay with the hanging baskets and floral displays in our towns and villages and can arrange to have those watered.
“But we do not have enough water bowsers to get out to all the parks and housing estates where we have flowerbeds and grassed areas.
“It is totally impractical for us to try and water all those in this weather.
“This is unprecedented weather for Huddersfield and after last year which was so dreadful, we face other problems.
“The growing season was later starting because of the winter but it also meant there were lots of weeds.
“We have been mowing the grass but that may not happen now because of the heat and it will allow us to get out and do some of the other jobs such as getting rid of the weeds and tidying up the borders.
“Our nurseries team, led by Paul Marshall, are doing a great job in difficult circumstances with the floral displays but there is not a lot we can do with the big grassed areas.”
Huddersfield weatherman Paul Stevens said: “The weekend will be fine and quite dry with wind coming in from the north sea.
“That will mean today’s temperatures will be a little cooler, settling at 23°/73F which is still above normal for July.
“They will climb again on Sunday to 26°/79F.
“Next week it will hot up again with a continental air front and we may get near 31.8° – a July record. The nights, too, will remain very hot and it will make it uncomfortable for many.
“Monday and Tuesday will see increased humidity and an increase in night-time temperatures to around 18° with a chance of thunder storms.’’“It will feel really hot and sticky.”