Temperatures in Gravesend have hit 23.5C as Kent's spooky weather makes Halloween feel more like a holiday.

Reports claim the mercury will push the region into the record books - with the hottest Halloween ever.

Thermometers are likely to nudge 21C today - breaking the previous UK record for October 31 - set in Kent in 1968 - when the temperatures rose to 20c.

The ice creams were out in Gravesend today with people taking in the sun.

Many took to the town's benches in tee shirts, pleased to seize the moment to grab a quick tan.

Gravesend regularly features on TV weather reports as being a hot spot but its record-breaking temperatures are not unexpected, according to the Met Office.

The area has been recording data since the 1990s, and in 2003 it posted one of the hottest temperatures since UK records began when a heatwave reached a sizzling 38.1 degrees celsius.

A Met Office spokesman said: "There are fewer than 10 weather stations for which we receive near real-time data in the Greater London Areas.

"With Gravesend to the east of London, this would explain why this particular station quite regularly records the highest temperatures."

Forecasters say the unseasonably warm day comes after a year which is so far the warmest on record.

If the new high is hit, it will make the county warmer than Algiers or even Cape Town.

But it's not time to put away the winter woollies and raincoat yet - we're set for rain later and temperatures are likely to plunge next week.

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