It is getting warmer with a peak of the heat on Friday with temperatures into the 30s Celsius. Fine and dry away from the far NW until the weekend when the heat is replaced by rain over Wales and England.
Very warm even hot weather is still on the way. Temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s Celsius are forecast for Friday across a large part of Wales and England. The very warm air is already over Spain and will move through France, reaching the UK later this week.
A cold front from the northwest will eventually sweep the heat away at the weekend but there is some uncertainty over how long that will take for the southeast. Also, how much rain, even thundery downpours, southern Britain will see. Quite a week with 33C, 34C possible depending on any cloud cover.
Differences along the frontal boundary zone from yesterday, not as warm for eastern Scotland on Friday, nor Co. Down.
This is not a sustained spell of heat. It is rather surprising how quickly the temperatures are able to leap up into the 30sC on Friday, without a day by day build up. For many people, some fine, very warm weather will be welcome. For those on the London underground, it may be more unsavoury. Anyone in an air-conditioned office will know that air temperature affects people in very different ways. The same is true of this hot spell.
The UK Met Office has a service for Health professionals which warns of potential heat situations so that agencies can prepare. Parts of central, eastern and southern England have just moved to Alert and Readiness.
“This is an important stage for social and healthcare services who will be working to ensure readiness and swift action to reduce harm from a potential heatwave.”
The next stages (for prolonged heat) are Heatwave Action and then National Emergency! Not in use here. Warm summer weather will be enjoyed by many but for some hot weather can be dangerous, especially for the very young or very old or those with chronic disease. We warn of flooding and thunderstorms, they won’t affect everyone but can be dangerous. There is the UV index and air quality forecasts. All information to allow people to make decisions adding in their own circumstances. There is moderate air pollution this week for SE Britain, that with hot air and very high pollen will affect some people. The usual evening run or jog might need to be re-scheduled on Friday.
There will be a more pleasant warmth for the middle of the week with temperatures in the high teens to mid 20sC. London and areas around the M4 corridor tipping into the high 20s Celsius. The NMM model is a bit more chipper about temperatures for Scotland and Northern Ireland than the UKV. The Western Isles keeps a feed of showery rain today which extends to Northern Ireland later this afternoon with a wet cooler spell this evening.
Dry and fine, sunny and warm elsewhere on Wednesday. Perhaps a bit more cloud about on Thursday with scattered showers in the far northwest. SE Britain widely will see the high 20s Celsius as the rain becomes more widespread by Thursday evening over Scotland, heaviest in the west, and clipping north coast Northern Ireland by night, just waving into Cumbria.
That rain just keeps feeding into Western Scotland with cloud cover for Friday morning. It then fades but where that frontal boundary lies will affect the temperatures greatly. Teens to the north and west, 25C to 34C for the south and east.
We don’t forget this fading front as developments from the Bay of Biscay and France where the heat remains, now look to bring a lot of rain. This rain will need watching as it could be heavy and thundery Saturday into Sunday.
The usual midweek look at the weekend weather will be out today. Glastonbury starts this time next week, they'll be needing some rain.
