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Whether it was hot enough to fry an egg on Blackpool’s famous Comedy Carpet was open to the test, but the resort was baking hot at times today (Tuesday July 19).

For the first time on record temperatures in the UK exceed 40°C in the south of the country, with a provisional temperature of 40.2°C recorded at Heathrow at 12.50pm.

Blackpool's basking in the heatwave

Reporter Richard Hunt prepares to crack an egg on the Comedy Carpet in Blackpool to see if it will fry. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

The first ever Red Extreme Heat warning is still in place across parts of England, while there has been an Amber alert across other areas, including Blackpool, the Fylde coast and Preston,

At its highest temperature today, Blackpool was basking in a heat of 36°C, while in Preston the highest temperature was 35°C.

Sales of fans have been going through the roof, with one store chain – Asda – reporting a massive 1,300 per cent rise across the UK.

There were still still plenty of visitors on Blackpool beach and the promenade, even so.

Eggs ready to be fried on the Comedy Carpet in Blackpool. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

The rise in temperatures did beg the question - was it possible to fry an egg on Blackpool s Promenade?

The Gazette headed to the Comedy Carpet with a box of eggs to find out, in the interests of science and a cheap fry-up.

In front of Blackpool Tower there was, for a short time, a little cloud cover, before the sun burst through.

The sun baked down with incredible power – but would the egg turn white?

Reporter Richard Hunt laughs in dismay as the egg doesn't fry on the Comedy Carpet in Blackpool. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

The answer was no, and disappointingly it wasn’t even close.

So – after cleaning up - we tried the baking hot bonnet of photographer Kelvin Stuttard’s car but the egg just slid off.

Finally, the car’s steaming hot roof – would an egg fry?

No, despite that searing heat, the egg would not play along.

Temperatures look set to cool down a little in the next couple of days on the Fylde coast.

The weather for Wednesday will see a cloudy start for some, though plenty of breaks will develop through the morning leaving sunny spells, with a risk of showers.

It will feel markedly fresher than today and a maximum temperature of 22 degrees is expected – not hot enough to even try frying an egg on the ground!

Does heatwave make it hot enough to fry eggs on Blackpool's Comedy Carpet?