Hot spots in the east and southeast of England may record a heatwave in the coming days – potentially spelling the fourth this summer for some, forecasters are warning.
Days after the Met Office confirmed that extremes of temperature and rainfall are becoming the norm, experts say the mercury could show 28C or 29C in those regions on Thursday and Friday, and it will be humid.
At the weekend, record-breaking temperatures exceeded 30C in several parts of the country, as the third heatwave of 2025 swept the UK. A high of 33C was recorded in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales recorded their warmest days of the year so far.
Much of the UK enjoyed a brief reprieve from the hot weather on Tuesday, then on Wednesday temperatures started creeping up again into the high 20s Celsius.
Meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “From a technical point of view, there is the potential for some places to reach heatwave status.
“But it’s not going to be anything like the most recent heatwave, which saw temperatures reach the high 20s or low 30s.
“Currently, we’re expecting temperatures of 29C in southeast England on Thursday and Friday, then it might well be 28C or similar on Saturday.
“Most likely, it’s a few individual weather stations that reach the criteria for a heatwave... but that won’t be for everyone, it will be a small minority of places where there is a technical heatwave.”
Definitions of a heatwave vary by county. Weather counts as a heatwave when a place has at least three days in a row when temperatures meet or exceed the heatwave temperature threshold for that place.
In areas from Cambridgeshire to West Berkshire to Surrey, the threshold is 29C. In much of northern England, Scotland and Wales, it’s 25C.
As records continue to be set this year, England had its warmest ever June, and the UK overall experienced its second-warmest since the series began in 1884, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Forecasters say the rest of July and early August are likely to be changeable. But towards mid-August, there are tentative signs that high pressure may become more dominant, the Met Office says, which would bring more dry, settled weather.
“Temperatures are expected to continue to run above average overall, with a greater likelihood, compared to the preceding couple of weeks, of very warm or hot spells to develop by mid-August, especially further south and east.”
After the UK’s driest spring since 1893, nearly seven million people are facing hosepipe bans.
The Southern Water restrictions affecting Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will begin on Monday, while Thames Water announced a ban that will begin on Tuesday for customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and some parts of Berkshire.
South East Water has also said 1.4 million customers in Kent and Sussex will also be banned from using hosepipes.
The first ban, across Yorkshire, came into effect on Friday after a “drought” was declared in the region.
The Environment Agency has warned that without substantial rain, more bans will follow.
The West and East Midlands have been declared as suffering from drought, as have Cumbria and Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, and Merseyside and Cheshire.
Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, East Anglia and the Thames areas have been designated as in “prolonged dry weather” status.
However, in the west of England on Thursday, forecasters say there will be outbreaks of rain, some of them intense, and thundery downpours are possible.
