UK weather health alert issued by Met Office as temperatures to soar across country

Weather health alerts have been issued for most of the country as Britons are warned to prepare for a heatwave in the coming days.

Temperatures could soar to 30C next week as all but one region in England have been issued a yellow heat health alert.

All warnings are set to come into place at 8am on Monday and remain until 5pm on Thursday.

The alerts, issued by the UK Health Security Agency and Met Office, warns of the threat of increased deaths among older and vulnerable people.

The only region in the country not impacted by warnings is the North East.

Elsewhere, the East Midlands, the East of England, East Anglia and the South East wanr of a “potential for significant impacts to be observed across the health and social care sector due to the high temperatures”.

The warnings go on to say there will likely be an “observed increase” in deaths across the population, particularly in the 65+ age group or those with health conditions.

They added there will likely be an increased demand for remote healthcare services.

The heat marks a break from the wet conditions in spring, which saw 32 per cent more rainfall than the average in England and Wales, making it the fifth wettest for England and the eighth wettest recorded for Wales, the Met Office said.

Much of the country will see temperatures in the mid-20s by midweek, while large swathes of England will see heat of up to 27C.

In the South East, this will rise to up to 29C by Wednesday, the Met Office said. The forecasters added that there is a chance that some isolated weather stations could record 30C around the middle of next week.

Met Office chief forecaster Neil Armstrong said: “Some central and southern areas are likely to see temperatures approaching the values needed for heatwave conditions.

“Heatwave conditions need to remain in situ for three consecutive days, and by the middle of next week it is possible that some parts of the UK could be reaching heatwave thresholds.”

A heatwave, as defined by the Met Office, is an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area at that time of year.

The weather service says a “UK heatwave” is when a location has at least three consecutive days with temperatures hitting the heatwave threshold.

Western areas are less likely to reach heatwave thresholds as they will be affected by an approaching weak weather front on Friday and Saturday. This will bring some wetter conditions to northwestern Scotland.

The heat is only expected to last until Wednesday with heavy showers, thunderstorms and persistent rain possibly returning in the west as the week goes on.