During the 1990 heat wave in the United Kingdom a weather station recorded a temperature of 37.1 °C (98.8 °F) for Cheltenham, Gloucestershire,[2] the highest temperature ever known in Britain, one full Fahrenheit degree above the previous record, set in 1911.
[1] Moorland fires were common during the height of the heat wave, occurring in North Yorkshire and the Peak District.
Some 100 square miles (260 km2) of the Peak District was closed to the public to try to prevent further fires occurring from careless visitors.
Roads were clogged as people flocked to the coast and to holiday resorts throughout the country.
Transport was further hampered as train services around the country slowed due to concerns over anomalies in the railway network from the intense heat.