Temperatures across the UK are set to rise "day by day" through the rest of the week with predicted highs "in the low 30s", the Met Office said. The forecaster said highs of 26C to 28C can be expected in some of the hotter spots across central parts of the UK from Wednesday.
By the end of the week, even the far north and west can expect hot temperatures "in the high 20s and low 30s", a Met Office meteorologist said. It comes after a yellow heat health alert was issued for the southern half of England on Tuesday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Health alert covers southern England
The alert will be in place from 10am on Wednesday until 10am next Tuesday and covers London, the East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia, the South East and South West. A spokesperson for the Met Office said: "The UK is set to experience a marked rise in temperatures midweek, with much of the country enjoying dry and sunny conditions."
"While the North West remains unsettled, elsewhere it will feel increasingly warm, even hot in places, particularly across southern and eastern regions." Wednesday is set to be "a largely dry day with sunny spells" - but patchy rain and drizzle is expected to persist across parts of north-west Scotland and possibly the north of Northern Ireland.
Temperatures climb significantly from Tuesday
Temperatures are however set to climb significantly compared to Tuesday, with a broad swathe of England and eastern Wales reaching between 24C and 26C. The highest temperatures are likely to be reached in the South West, where some places may see highs of 28C, the Met said.
Eastern Scotland and Northern Ireland will also see a rise in temperatures, but will remain cloudy, limiting the day time heat. Met Office presenter and meteorologist, Aidan McGivern, said: "There'll be sunny skies for the south and the east first thing Wednesday, but a lot of cloud elsewhere."
Warmest conditions expected in north
"It's mostly dry into the afternoon and it's turning warmer day by day. It's even warmer across northern areas as the cloud breaks up and fronts push further north." By Thursday and Friday, temperatures are expected to settle across parts of eastern Wales and central, southern, and eastern England, the Met Office predicted.
"Actually, it's not the South East where we'll see the highest temperatures," McGivern said. "It's more towards the north and the west. Certainly compared with what we'd normally expect at this time of year, the biggest anomalies compared with climate will be across the far north and west of the UK."
Record-breaking year continues for heat
"And we're talking about widely, temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s. So yeah, increasingly warm, if not hot, in many places by the end of the week and into the weekend." The UK saw its hottest day of the year so far when 34.7C was recorded at St James's Park in central London on July 1, while the capital also experienced the hottest start to Wimbledon on record.
Provisional Met Office figures also showed England had its warmest June on record last month. An official heatwave is recorded when areas reach a certain temperature for three consecutive days, with thresholds varying from 25C to 28C in different parts of the UK.
(PA/London) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
