First heatwave of 2025 likely as temperatures to surge above 30C
Temperatures are set to soar to more than 30C (86F) this week as an area of high pressure builds across the UK.
It will become increasingly hot later this week and by the weekend some places could easily beat the highest temperature recorded so far this year – 29.4C (85F) in Suffolk on 13 June.
For a heatwave to be declared by the Met Office we need to reach a threshold temperature for at least three consecutive days, and that varies from 25C across the north and west of the UK, to 28C in parts of eastern England.
Whilst we have seen temperatures exceeding these figures in recent weeks, the warm spells have not been long enough to qualify as a heatwave – but that could be about to change.
Temperatures over 30C for the first time this year
The warm weather will be concentrated across East Anglia and south-east England on Tuesday before spreading across the Midlands, east Wales and north England by the weekend.
By Wednesday the heat becomes much more widespread with highs of 28C, and by the weekend the hot spots surge somewhere between 30 and 33C.
Meanwhile, it will become warmer in Northern Ireland and Scotland later in the week, but it will be more comfortable here with temperatures mostly in the low 20s.