DORSET sizzled in soaring temperatures at the weekend with sunseekers taking to the beaches and countryside in a bid to cool off.

Thousands flocked to Weymouth yesterday as the thermometer climbed to 31.9C (89.4F) in the resort - the third highest reading on record and 30.8C (87.4F) in Dorchester.

And there was no respite from the heat at night either as people in Dorchester experienced their warmest night on record with the mercury rising to 20.4C (68.7F) last night with a similar temperature recorded in Weymouth.

Dorchester Weatherman John Oliver said the temperature never fell below the record breaking high beating the previous record of 18.6C set in June 1976.

Weymouth weatherman Bob Poots said: "Temperatures have been very high. It is proving to be a very interesting weather year."

The highest temperature ever recorded in Weymouth was 32.3C in June 1976.

The scorching weather definitely proved a boom for stores across the county with electric fans, paddling pools and bottled water disappearing off the shelves as quickly as they were filled.

And hungry sun worshipers went barbecue barmy with sales of burgers, beers and baps going through the roof.

Jim Wright, spokesman for Tesco in Dorchester, said: "It's definitely barbecue weather. We've got an instore bakery and our bakers have been having trouble keeping up with demand. Our packs of 12 and 24 buns are just flying out of the door.

"When you're selling such high volumes of stuff it's hard to work out how much you'll need so there are times when we are running out of the most popular things earlier on in the day than we normally would.

"The most popular beers are the small bottles that come in packs and every kind of burger you can imagine is being snapped up. It's great, our sales are through the roof."

Kim Llewellyn, spokesman for Weymouth's Asda store in Newstead Road said: "Sales of all our barbecue lines have been fantastic this week. They've all gone up staggeringly. We're restocking shelves all the time, it's hard to keep up.

"One thing that hasn't gone up as much as we'd like is sun creams which could mean people are going out unprotected, which is really serious."

A spokesman for Safeway said as well as a boom in the sale of burgers and ice cream in Dorset sales of deodorant, summer reading such as magazines and novels, and bottle openers and corkscrews have also shot up, as well as sales of condoms and paracetamol which have increased by 150 per cent.

Pubs were also kept busy in the heat as trippers took time out from the sun to try and cool down.

Emily Leach, Manager, of the Cork and Bottle, on the Esplanade said: "Our sales of bottled water and fruit drinks such are doing much better than normal."

Robert Montgomery, Asst Manager, The Ship, Custom House Quay said: "We are very busy at the moment, so everything is going well. But we are selling a lot of the non-alcoholic J2O drinks, and a lot more bottles generally."

Weathermen forecast that today's (mon) temperatures will once again edge past 27C (80F) by this afternoon.

The forecast for the week ahead is fresher with temperatures ranging from 24-27C and the warm dry spell expected to extend into next week when the town's popular carnival takes place.