The Met Office has indicated when temperatures will pass 30C again as a third heatwave is set to hit the UK. The country has been enjoying cooler temperatures over the past week after a heatwave in June, which saw temperatures exceeding 35C in parts of Britain. Another heatwave is on the way, the Met Office says, with temperatures again reaching the 30s.
Temperatures are expected to reach the mid-20s by the middle of this week and by the end of the week, they will peak in the 30s. If temperatures remain high until Friday, the UK will have officially experienced its third heatwave of the summer, as there needs to be at least three days of hot weather for a heatwave to be declared. Experts have warned that sleeping could be uncomfortable for much of the country as high temperatures return.
Marco Petagna, a senior meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “I think Wednesday is probably going to be the day when we could start to reach the thresholds of 25C to 28C, depending on where you are.
“But of course, you need three days at those temperatures for it to be able to be called a technical heatwave. So, although the temperature will be reaching the criteria, we probably won’t actually reach an official heatwave until around Friday, to give the three consecutive days at those temperatures.”
Friday and Saturday could be exceptionally hot with temperatures exceeding 30C in parts of the country. He added: “At the weekend, we could just start to see humidity increasing a little bit as well and nighttime temperatures look like they are going to be, so it will be starting to become more uncomfortable by night.”
“It’s a bit of a question mark going through the weekend early next week as to how long the heat will last and how high the temperatures will get, because some models are sort of pushing the heat away a bit more quickly, whereas others keep the heat going.
“At this stage it looks as though certainly into next weekend, we should hold on to hot weather across the south of the UK and temperatures could again certainly get into the low 30s in a few spots. And we are going to see some very high pollen and very high UV levels as well.
“But at this stage, we’ve managed to escape some of the very highest temperatures, those seen across Spain and Portugal in particular, where it has reached the mid-40s.”