London weather: Capital to be hotter than the Algarve with temperatures to reach 27C in near-heatwave

London is likely to be hotter than the Algarve next week with temperatures are expected to creep up to 27C.

BBC Weather is predicting that London will bask in hot sunshine throughout the week after a damp start to the summer.

The forecaster expects the capital will be hotter than Faro, in the south of Portugal, as well as Barcelona in Spain.

The weather conditions will be similar to those in Ibiza, with 27C heat expected on Wednesday.

London will be warmer than many holiday destinations on the continent next week including Nice in the south of France and the Spanish island Tenerife.

Other parts of Europe have been facing more extreme conditions, with villages near Athens having to be evacuated due to wildfires.

Londoners can expect a week of sunshine with temperatures reaching the mid 20s from Sunday.

The Met Office has said the UK’s weather will shift this week, caused by a strengthening of the jet stream, which will raise temperatures to above the seasonal average in sunnier periods after a decidedly mixed start to the summer.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Dan Harris said: “In stark contrast to the first half of June, where temperatures have widely been below average, we are expecting to see a steady uptick through the second half of this week, rising to around or above average, and it will likely feel very warm for those in the sunshine.”

After a decidedly mixed few weeks, it will feel like a heatwave in the capital - though it’s likely to fall a degree or two short of a technical one.

An official UK “heatwave” occurs when a place records at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold, which varies across the country. In London, that temperature is 28C. The warm spell comes after a largely miserable May and early June, blighted by grey skies and heavy rain showers.

It was the UK’s wettest spring since 1986 and the sixth wettest on record, according to the Met Office.

An average 301.7mm of rain fell on the country across March, April and May, nearly a third (32 per cent) more than usual for the season.

Yet despite the dull, wet conditions, the UK had its warmest May and spring on record, provisional Met Office figures show.

For the UK in May, Scotland was particularly warm, with a mean temperature of 12.3C, beating 2018’s previous record by 1.6C.