Brits are set for blistering temperatures where they could be close to 30C before the country is set to be battered by thunderstorms over the weekend.
It has been a week of unsettled weather which has seen wind and heavy rain from storm Polly while the mercury has dipped after record breaking temperatures in June.
And forecasters are predicting the mercury to rise up to the high 30Cs at the end of July and into August particularly if the El Nino starts to have an effect.
Showers lashed the east of England with Met Office weather warnings in place on Tuesday but it is going to be a drier end to the week where temperatures could reach 29C on Friday.
BBC weather forecaster Louise Lear said: “We start out on Friday with some showery outbreaks of rain to the north and west but further south we will once again see some clearer skies.
“But this frontal system will tend to linger for a time and it is going to tap in to some very warm and humid air as we move into Friday, hence the reason why we will see this northwest/southeast divide.
“So some showery outbreaks of rain into Northern Ireland and western Scotland. Eastern Scotland, England and Wales, dry, settled, sunny and increasingly hot and humid, 28C or 29C can’t be ruled out by the middle of the afternoon.”
But over the weekend tennis at Wimbledon and the Ashes test match at Headingley could be hit by rain.
Ms Lear said the return of the hot weather could also lead to storms.
She continued: “That runs the risk of more thunderstorms as we move into the weekend hence the reason for those showers for both Wimbledon and for Headlingley. Those fronts will push in and move steadily north and east. So into the weekend, sunny spells and scattered showers and a little bit fresher.”
Senior meteorologist at British Weather Services, Jim Dale, told The Mirror that the El Nino could see temperatures rise to at least 35C in the second half of July.
“It is normal for that time of the year to see the hottest temperatures and there is a good run up to it with the more temperate conditions before hand,” he said.
“The seas are warmer than they should be and we are governed by the sea while we have the early days of El Nino which is expected to have an impact over the next few months.”
