South Essex man tests if hot enough to fry egg on car bonnet

The Met Office predicted the country could see highs of 38C today as it issued a rare red heat weather warning, which covers parts of Essex.

The rise in temperatures also forced the UK Health Security Agency to issue a level 4 heat-health alert, described as an "emergency".

Both warnings are running from today to Wednesday.

Falling under the red weather alert, Melvyn South, of Wensley Road Benfleet, decided to try a unique experiment.

In the sizzling heat, the 71-year-old cracked an egg on the bonnet of his Land Rover to see if he could answer the age-old question, is it hot enough to fry an egg on a car bonnet?

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The egg frying on Melvyn South's car bonnet in Benfleet today.

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Surprisingly, the test seemed to work as Melvyn says the egg fried and the yolk became hard.

He added: "Don't think I would have eaten it as the bonnet wasn't that clean and it was mostly stuck but the yolk was hard."

Temperatures of 30C can make it hot enough to fry an egg on a car bonnet, Jim Dale, a meteorologist for British Weather Services, told Express.co.uk in March.

And scorching temperatures in the high 30s meant south Essex was warmer than some holiday destinations today including Malaga in Spain (28C), Albufeira in Portugal (28C) and Dakhla, in the Western Sahara (24C).

It will be even warmer tomorrow as peak temperatures could see parts of the country as hot as 40C, the Met Office predicts.