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UK weather in pictures: Britons enjoy hottest day of year so far

PA Media People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset on 20 MayPA Media
Many people were pictured basking in the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset on Wednesday

People across the UK are enjoying glorious sunny weather, with the country recording its hottest day of the year so far.

Temperatures reached 28.2C (83F) in Santon Downham, Suffolk, and sunbathers across England enjoyed new found-freedom following the slight easing of virus lockdown restrictions.

The sunshine is set to continue for most of the UK on Wednesday.

But conditions are expected to become more unsettled on Thursday.

It comes after London's St James's Park recorded a high of 26.2C (79F) on Tuesday - beating 2020's previous top of 26C (78.8F) set last month.

BBC Cyclists alongside Loch Ness in ScotlandBBC
The sun was shining over Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands

Elsewhere in the UK, Wales and Scotland also recorded their highest temperatures of the year, at 26.4C (in Hawarden) and 24.1C (in Kinlochewe) respectively, the Met Office said.

While the mercury reached a balmy high of 20.5C in Armagh in Northern Ireland.

PA Media Rob and Sally Underhill sit outside their beach hut as they enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset on 20 MayPA Media
Rob and Sally Underhill settled outside their beach hut to enjoy the gorgeous spring weather
PA Media People take to their boats as they enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on 20 MayPA Media
While others at Bournemouth beach took to their boats
PA Media Sunbathers enjoy the hot weather at Weston-super-Mare on Wednesday 20 MayPA Media
There were also crowds of sunbathers gathered at Weston-super-Mare in the south-west of England
PA Media Sunbathers enjoy the hot weather at Weston-super-Mare on Wednesday 20 MayPA Media

Lockdown measures were eased in England earlier last week following seven weeks of restrictions, and people are now allowed to meet one other person from another household outdoors, if they stay 2m (6ft) apart.

There is also no longer any limit to the amount of exercise, or "open-air recreation" (such as sunbathing) you can do outside in England.

PA Media A pod of bottlenose dolphins off the north east coast between Whitley Bay and Cullercoats Bay on Wednesday 20 MayPA Media
Meanwhile, a pod of around 10 bottlenose dolphins was spotted off the coast of Northumberland at sunrise on Wednesday - between Whitley Bay and Cullercoats Bay
PA Media Two women observe social distancing whilst enjoying the hot weather in Greenwich Park, London on Wednesday 20 MayPA Media
In London, people observed social distancing guidelines while soaking up the sunshine in Greenwich Park
PA Media People enjoy the hot weather in Greenwich Park, London on 20 MayPA Media
PA Media People enjoy the hot weather in Greenwich Park, London on 20 MayPA Media
Here one woman enjoys a game of frisbee, as new lockdown rules allow unlimited exercise outdoors
Getty Images People get out in the sunshine in Broadway market, Hackney, north east London on 20 MayGetty Images
And many people were seen outside in the sunshine in Broadway Market, in Hackney, north east London

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