Huddersfield residents basked in glorious sunshine today as temperatures soared to make it the warmest April day for nearly 70 years.

A high of 29.1C was recorded at St James’s Park, London, during the afternoon, making it the hottest UK day in April since 1949.

The unusually warm weather saw temperatures more than 10C higher than average for this time of year and saw thousands of people flocking to beaches across Britain.

Once again the vagaries of the British climate means that within the space of just a few weeks we have going from turning up the central heating to full as the snow and ice descended to a mad dash to pharmacies and supermarkets to stock up on sun tan lotion and barbecue food.

Examiner weatherman Paul Stevens

However, there is always a catch, with hay-fever sufferers warned to expect problems given the high pollen levels throughout much of the UK.

Forecasters say that the weather is the result of low pressure over the Atlantic and high pressure over western Europe drawing in warm air.

Examiner weather forecaster Paul Stevens said: “We have to enjoy the sunshine for as long as it lasts. It’s not going to be so warm tomorrow (Fri).

“The temperature hit 24.7C in Huddersfield today which makes it the warmest April day since 2007 when we got 24.6C.

“There will be a southerly flow from the Med overnight giving us temperatures of 20C on Friday. On Saturday, which will be the better day of the weekend, we might well see thundery showers and temperatures of 18/19C while Sunday might get no higher than 14/15C.”