Tropical heatwave heading for Britain
Soars from Azores will make it 30C
BOILING 30C at the weekend
SUMMER is finally arriving, with a week-long heatwave ready to sweep in from the Azores – for some of us.
Temperatures are predicted at the weekend to rocket to 30C for the first time this year in central and southern areas, which is almost double the usual average of 17C.
And the blue skies are forecast to last into the middle of next week by the Met Office. Spokeswoman Nicky Maxey said: “We are looking at temperatures getting to 30C, certainly the high 20s.”
The sunshine will arrive as the winds turn southerly, dragging up warm air from the Continent.
“This warm air is coming up from the tropical maritime air of the Azores in Portugal,” said Ms Maxey.
In London and the South, the weather will even stay warm through the nights, with 13C predicted for Friday overnight but then rising to 18C overnight on Saturday. Ms Maxey added: “It will be quite humid and quite sticky overnight as well as during the day.”
It looks like the heat is off in Scotland and the North, which could be hit by showers and more cloudy conditions.
But bookmakers are predicting that this month could see recordbreaking heat.
Betway goes 5-2 for any day to surpass June’s historical high of 35.6C and is as short as 5-6 for the mercury to rise past the 30C mark at any point this month.
That highest temperature on record for the month came in 1976 at Southampton. Ladbrokes has cut the odds on the hottest summer on record from 2-1 to 7-4 while prices for 30C this week came in to 2-1 from 4-1. A hosepipe ban this year is at 4-1.
Spokeswoman Jessica Bridge said: “We have been left with no option but to slash the odds that the mercury rockets towards 30C this week.”
The Met Office predicts very high pollen counts across much of England today with low to moderate levels further north.
And pollen levels will remain very high in parts of the country into the weekend.
The mercury reached 24.8C in the village of Santon Downham in Suffolk, which was the highest temperature recorded by the Met Office on Saturday and Sunday.
This follows a mixed start to the summer season, which has seen some spells of warm weather followed by the stormy conditions of last week.