Hundreds of schools are planning to close ahead of red heat alerts

More than 300 schools across England and Wales plan to close partially or completely on Tuesday and this week due to the weather.

Others close on Wednesday and Thursday mornings to protect children from the heat, with some pupils being told they can wear PE kit instead of full school uniform for those days.

The Department for Education itself “does not normally recommend school closures” and instead provides guidance on how to manage extreme heat.

The Met Office has warned of travel disruption for those traveling by car, train and air.

Passengers on the national railway network are urged not to make non-essential journeys and to ensure that they carry water.

GTR – the UK’s biggest train operator – said it would stop the Gatwick Express from noon on Wednesday and Thursday. The airport will still be served by Thameslink and Southern trains.

The operator will implement safety speed limits on Thameslink, the Great Northern and Southern lines over the next two days as trains run.

GTR passengers can get refunds for tickets they bought on Tuesday and if they cancel their journeys for the next two days.

Avanti West Coast also said it would run fewer train services between Tuesday and Thursday, while Chiltern Railways has more than halved its services on those three days.

National Rail explained that heat causes a number of issues, including expansion of overhead lines and overcrowding of railway tracks.

The RAC, meanwhile, says it is dealing with 10% more breakdowns than usual for the year and is expecting breakdown assistance to “increase significantly with higher temperatures”.

Slightly worse amber weather warnings are in place for parts of southern and central England and parts of Wales until Thursday.

Hot and humid weather is forecast for Tuesday. There were thunderstorms in the early hours, with about 29,000 lightning strikes recorded in the south.There is a Met office.

The storm caused flooding and travel disruption in parts of England, with the London Fire Brigade reporting that it responded to 400 calls overnight.

Emergency services said two house fires in London and Bristol were believed to have been caused by lightning.

Power outages hit southwest England, with hundreds of homes briefly without power on Monday evening, National Grid reported.