BRITAIN STORMING TO RECORD SIZZLING SUMMER
Downpours this week then 2-month heatwave
BRITAIN will bask in two months of glorious sunshine with experts predicting a 36C heatwave.
Thunderstorms are forecast for the next couple of days for many parts of the country, but as the main school holidays begin the sizzling weather is set to return.
A SIZZLING summer is set to burst through the storm clouds as a heatwave hits 36C.
Baking temperatures will arrive just as most schoolkids break up at the end of this week. And youngsters can look forward to gorgeous weather all through their summer holidays. But first there will be a soggy spell in the middle of this week. That will be followed with the mercury rising throughout this month and August. Hot air from the Sahara will settle over the United Kingdom at least until September. Already this summer the UK has been enjoying better than average weather with the hottest day of the year recorded as 34.5C at Heathrow on June 21. Yesterday temperatures were soaring above the typical July norms once again. Horses from the Queen’s Household Cavalry had to take a cooling dip in the surf off the Norfolk coast. They charged into the waves on Holkham Beach on a break from their summer training. TV presenter Ben Fogle joined them in the water, keeping cool on the scorching day. The sweltering heat will continue today and hit 30C before the current high pressure is ® by RUTH McKEE and ROSS KANIUK pushed out by a series of lows which will see brief storms sweep in and give many areas a short, sharp drenching. The first sign will be windier weather in the west before showers and thunderstorms spread north-eastwards overnight, although it will remain hot and muggy even while wet, with above-average July temperatures. Senior meteorologist Dr Michael de Villiers, of The Weather Channel, said: “Showers and thunderstorms will move across the south west, spreading north-eastwards overnight. “A Spanish plume will bring showery rain and thundery conditions on and off through Wednesday.” But then the dry, hot weather will resume. In the south, the mercury will rise to highs of 30C while Scotland and the north will bake in temperatures in the high 20s. And that will just be a warmup for hotter things to follow in the coming weeks. Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze said: “36C highs are on the cards. “After a superb start, bursts of heat ahead have the potential to be hot, hot, hot.” A Met Office forecaster added: “Prolonged dry and warm spells are likely to become more prevalent by the end of July.”