Britain could be on the brink of a mini-heatwave this weekend, with the mercury reaching the high 20s across most of the UK.
A spell of high pressure means most areas will meet the Met Office’s definition of a heatwave – defined as three days above a particular temperature threshold.
The sun is set to stick around for the rest of the month, with only north-western parts due a little wind and rain towards the end of next week.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon told the PA news agency: “There’s a definition of what a heatwave is – it is at least three consecutive days of maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding a temperature threshold.
“It is above 28C (82.4F) for London and large chunk of the south east, it is 27C (80.6F) for the Midlands and going towards the south west its 26C (78.8F).
“In Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Devon and Cornwall and the north east its 25C (77F) – so it is a sliding scale depending on where you are, but we haven’t yet met that maximum threshold.”
Very #warm and humid conditions will develop across much of the country as we approach the weekend and it will feel quite hot in parts of the south 📈. But can we call it a heatwave?
Here's how we define a #UK #heatwave 👇 https://t.co/7K4zxqtpYP
— Met Office (@metoffice) June 8, 2021
But the weekend is set to be a scorcher with the mercury potentially tipping 30C (86F) in parts of the South East by the beginning of next week.
Mr Claydon said: “But by the beginning of the weekend and going into next week we might start to meet that criteria, by Sunday we might see 28C (82.4F) or 29C (84.2F).
“It looks set to continue into next week, that is outside of our detailed forecast but the indication is that settled warm weather is set to continue.”
Mr Claydon continued: “As well as the 28C/29C (82.4F/84.2F) expected in London and the south east, elsewhere in places like Nottingham will potentially be meeting the heat wave criteria with 27C (80.6F) forecast.
“Various other places set to meet the heatwave threshold as well.”
He added: “There’s a chance we might get towards 30C (86F) at the beginning of next week.”
If you cannot get out and about this weekend, it looks like there will still be plenty of time to work on your tan, with at least a few more weeks of sunshine on the way, according to Met Office data.
“The theme of high pressure is expected to continue throughout June, although we might see incursions of unsettled weather in the north-western parts of the UK including some wet and windy weather in Scotland,” Mr Claydon said.
“The broad theme is that the high pressure will bring more settled conditions across the UK.”
The weather might turn at the start of July, but there is nothing concrete on the cards, Mr Claydon said.
“There are very early signs that the high pressure might start to break down at the end of the month but we are a long way from that yet,” Mr Claydon said.
Despite bookies offering odds on this being the hottest June ever, it is too early in the month to say whether we will see record-breaking average temperatures.
Mr Claydon explained that the average maximum daytime temperature for June is 17.3C (63.1F), but that the first eight days of June 2021 have sat a couple of degrees higher than that at 19.7C (67.5F).
The record average maximum June temperature was set in 1940 at 20.5C (68.9F).
“Currently we are not even in the top five hottest Junes on record,” Mr Claydon said.
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