UK set for first 'major' heatwave of year this week and there's more to come

James Rodger
·2-min read

A heatwave looms as the UK temperatures could "exceed 25C" for "several days" this week. Exacta Weather forecaster and meteorologist James Madden said "the first major warm spell of the year" is expected to develop this week.

"We will now see high pressure move in across our shores to deliver a largely warm, sunny, and almost on cue settled spell of weather for most and if not all parts of the country throughout next week," he said in an update for Exacta.

"This will see temperatures exceeding the 20C mark quite widely from around Wednesday for a number of days, and these warm conditions will also extend into parts of the northern half of the country within this developing period too."

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Madden added it's "plausible" we could see temperatures "hitting or exceeding the 25C mark in the hottest spots in parts of central and southern England". He went on: "It is now completely safe to say that we are facing lots of dry and sunny weather during next week with well above-average to very warm temperatures for the time of year as our first proper warm spell of 2024 begins to take hold.

"Beyond this, and during the following week starting on May 13th, it is currently presenting problems among the main third-party computer models as to whether it turns temporarily unsettled or if we will see an intensification of these warm to potentially hot conditions across the UK and Ireland.

"Alternatively, there are also some promising signals for another area of high pressure to become influential on our weather pattern in terms of additional warm to hot weather and some early summer sunshine for many around mid-month.

"However, the outlook and prospects from Tuesday and most of next week are still excellent and quite warm for most, and although not essentially a heatwave as of yet, there is still scope for some intensification of these developments to something even hotter towards next weekend or in and around mid-month."

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