Parts of the UK could record a drop in temperatures to as low as 2C as fluctuating weather patterns dominate later this month. While great swathes of the country have met heatwave criteria over the last week, with dry and sunny conditions accompanied by highs of above 30C, the above-average trend is not expected to last. According to forecasts from WXCharts, the weather will take a turn for the cooler in just a few days time – with lows of 2C in pockets of the country before July is out.
The colder weather is predominantly expected to hit Scotland, with northern regions including the Highlands dropping to just above 0C in the early hours of Friday, July 25.
Elsewhere, northeastern England around Newcastle could also drop to the low-single-digits in the penultimate week of the month, alongside the lower northwest, including Manchester and Cheshire.
It will follow a gradual cool-down of temperatures across the country during the remainder of the month, after southeasterly areas in particular sizzled with highs of 34C this week.
Southern regions including London, Birmingham and Southampton are still forecast to hover around 20C as the mercury takes a nosedive in the north, with Scotland, the western English coast and Northern Ireland sticking below 15C into Saturday, July 26.
The Met Office has also warned that “changeable weather conditions” are expected across the UK during the latter half of July, with some “cloudier, more unsettled intervals which will bring some showers or longer spells of persistent rainfall”.
The forecaster maintains that the mercury will largely stay “above normal”, however, with highs especially likely in the south and east.
BBC Weather has struck a similar tone to WXCharts, however, warning that “cooler and wetter” conditions are expected to hit the country in late July and early August.
“The end of July and early August may see a generally cooler and more changeable weather pattern developing from the west and north-west,” the broadcaster said.
“This would be linked to a slightly stronger low pressure influence in the eastern North Atlantic and into the continent, as the high pressure is likely to shift further towards far north-western Europe or the central-western North Atlantic. In this case temperatures would be close to the seasonal average for the time of year.”