Northolt, a town in West London, saw the second hottest temperatures with 20.2C recorded. Large groups gathered outside pubs in central London on Wednesday, enjoying the sunshine during their lunch break, while others left their desks behind to have their sandwiches in the park. This beats the 19.2C maximum previously reached on March 4 in Northolt near Heathrow in West London.

In the spring sunshine today we've seen the warmest day of the year so far ☀️

20.9°C recorded at Gogerddan in Wales

20.2°C at Northolt in England pic.twitter.com/dKGwwmkrGZ

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A spokesperson for the Met Office, Grahame Madge, explained that the warmer temperatures are due to warm air being drawn up from southern parts of Europe.

Trawsgoed in Wales was among the other locations experiencing high temperatures today, reaching 19.5C. The sunny weather will continue on Thursday, and temperatures will cool towards the seasonal average on Friday.

Yesterday was the Spring Equilux for the southern half of the UK, where daylight is closest to 12 hours. From tomorrow, days will be longer than the nights until late September.

Tomorrow will be a warm and sunny day for many with light winds. However, some southern parts of Scotland and northern England will once again remain rather cloudy and will miss out on the sunshine.

The Met Office's weather outlook for Friday to Sunday reads: "Dry with sunny spells for many as we move into the weekend. The risk of rain across northern Scotland Saturday, perhaps more widely in the north Sunday. Turning cooler."