It has been raining in Spain and it’s jumper weather on the coast of Sicily, but in the UK it has been another glorious day, with record-breaking temperatures across much of the country.

Amid warnings that the heatwave was evidence of climate change, the Met Office said new Easter Sunday temperature records were set in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with England just missing out on a new record.

New Scottish and Welsh records were set with temperatures of 23.4C (74F) in Edinburgh and Cardiff. Helen’s Bay, on the northern coast of County Down, managed 21C.

These beat the temperatures of 21.6C in Brynamman, Wales, in 1984, along with 20.7C in Aboyne, Scotland, in 2015, and 19.4C in Armagh in Northern Ireland dating back to 1924, which were the previous warmest Easter Sundays for those countries.

The highest temperature in England was the 24.6C, which was reached in Heathrow. This was still shy of the top Easter Sunday temperature from 2011, when the mercury reached 25.3C in the Solent.

Meteorologist Emma Smith said the hot weather was likely to continue on bank holiday Monday. “We could see 25C or 26C. We’ve got some medium-level cloud coming in from the continent, so there’s a question mark over whether we will see any warmer than that. That cloud could also introduce an isolated thunderstorm across Wales.”

While Easter is late this year and it is difficult to definitively link any one spell of unusual weather with climate change, scientists say that rising temperatures in general are clear evidence of the urgency of the crisis.

Nonetheless, the sunny weather meant Britain’s seaside resorts were far busier than normal. Tourism chiefs in Bournemouth said about 52,000 people were on the beaches on Saturday, and the car parks had filled up by midday on Sunday. About 640,000 visitors were expected in the town over the four-day holiday.

For others, it was a chance to get in the garden and crank up the barbecue. Asda was predicting sales of barbecue meat to rise by 60% over the weekend.

The Humberside police dog section urged people not to leave their dogs in vehicles or over-exercise them in the heat, and to watch out for dogs’ paws on hot surfaces such as tarmac.

Among the famous faces enjoying the heat was Paul McCartney, who tweeted a picture of himself riding a horse through a field of rapeseed.

Members of the royal family squinted in the bright sunshine as they arrived at St George’s Chapel in Windsor for an Easter Mattins service that coincided with the Queen’s 93rd birthday, a date she shares with Iggy Pop, 72, and the Cure’s Robert Smith, 60. A crowd sang Happy Birthday as the Queen left.

The UK was warmer than Spain, Italy and Greece – but the conditions will not last. Forecasters are predicting a return to cooler conditions, with thunderstorms expected from Wednesday.