U.K. Heat Going "One Direction" - Down

UPDATE: Additional stats are available in our Europe blog and the Washington Post. London broke the 2006 record to have the hottest July day ever (on the first of the month!). At 103.5 F, Paris had its second hottest day in recorded history.

Europe is experiencing a heat wave that's breaking records this week. For the second month in a row, Madrid, Spain, broke their all-time monthly heat record. The U.K. experienced their highest temperature since 2006 yesterday. Here's a shot of temperatures this afternoon (Greenwich Time):

Earlier today, the hashtag #hottestdayoftheyear started trending on Twitter, reportedly with help from fans of the band "One Direction" (though I could not confirm that, as of this writing).

Well, good news for the U.K. - as stormy weather moves in, temperatures will be going only One Direction, down, this week. For the rest of Europe, the heat will expand.