London could experience it’s hottest day of the year this weekend with temperatures set to reach 33C in London on Saturday (June 21). This comes amid a warm spell over recent days which has prompted to UK Health Security Agency to issue an amber heat-health alert across England.
Although the summer heatwave will peak on Saturday, the BBC predicts this warm spell will continue until the end of June. The first sight of rain is expected on Monday, June 30 when temperatures drop to 22C.
Similar rainy conditions are expected throughout the first week of July following a scorching June. This is supported by the Met Office’s long range forecast which predicts changeable conditions throughout the first half of July.
This Sunday (June 22), highs of 26C are expected in London which would technically bring the heatwave to an end. The mercury needs to reach 28C for three days in a row to be officially classed as a heatwave but temperatures are going to stick in the mid to high 20s until June 30 – so it is not going to feel cool for a while yet.
Met Office weather forecaster Dan Stroud said: “We’re expecting the hot and dry conditions to continue, it does turn a little bit hazier in the west during the course of Friday, we’re still expecting temperatures to reach the low 30s, 31C, 32C fairly widely, maybe seeing 33C.”
BBC forecasters say temperatures will then drop slightly again to 23C and 25C on Monday and Tuesday, before ramping up to 26C and 27C for the remainder of next week.
Will the UK record its highest ever June temperature?
This is hard to say, but current forecasts predict this won’t happen. The warmest it’s ever been in June was 35.6C recorded in Southampton in 1976.
London is predicted to reach 33C this weekend, but recent trends show that temperatures have exceeded expectations in some local areas over recent days. Highs of 31C were predicted in London on Thursday (June 19), but the mercury reached 32.2C in Kew.
Firefighters have issued a warning across the country following 564 wildfires across England and Wales already this year. This is a 717 per cent increase on the same period in 2024, and more than double the number seen in 2022 which went on to be the worst year on record for wildfires, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said.
The NFCC is now urging caution among members of the public when enjoying the outdoors in a bid to prevent further spikes in incidents.
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