The Met Office has said this week is set to see the highest temperature yet recorded in 2023. The forecaster predicted that Thursday could be the day when a new record is set for this year.
It could get as high as 25C on Thursday in the east of Wales and the West Midlands area of England, topping this year’s previous high of 23C, the Met Office said.
An onshore breeze will keep temperatures in the South East cooler, but dry, bright weather is still expected across the area and most of the country for the rest of the week.
Temperatures of around 18C are expected in the daytime in much of Scotland, with even the Shetland islands expected to stay relatively warm at around 11 or 12C, although overnight temperatures could still be in single figures on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The warm, sunny weather is expected to continue throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. A Met Office spokesperson said that high pressure is likely to bring about settled and warm conditions through to Monday.
However, forecasters said that no “African plume” heatwave is expected any time soon, after it was reported that scorching temperatures were expected across the country before the end of May.
Neil Armstong, Met Office Chief Forecaster, said: “If you have heard media hyperbole that a heatwave driven by an African plume will bring intense heat to the UK in the next few days you are going to be disappointed – this isn’t true. However, if you are looking forward to a spell of largely fine, sunny and warm conditions across the majority of the UK, then you are going to be in luck.”
For warm weather to be classed as a heatwave, it has to persist for at least three days and be much hotter than expected for the time of year.
A Met Office spokesperson said that while temperatures are heating up, they are not outside of what is expected for early summer. An area of high pressure to the west of the UK is driving the warm and sunny conditions, he said.
Temperatures hit their highest for the year so far on Sunday, with parts of north Wales seeing highs of 23C and most of England and Wales staying above 20C.
