Britain is set to swelter next week as forecasters warned an imminent heatwave will see temperatures reach 32C.
Weather warnings for thunderstorms are in place for most of the UK from 3pm on Sunday to midnight on Monday, which could see flash flooding, lightning and strong winds.
But once these clear the mercury is expected to soar to highs of 31C or 32C from Tuesday and Wednesday.
The highest June temperature on record is 35.6C, recorded in Southampton on 28 June 1976.
Met Office forecaster Steven Keates told The Independent: “Friday and Saturday will be fairly quiet days in comparison to what we expect next week.
“We’ve got some nice weather around. There are still a few showers around on Friday mainly across parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland but the bulk will see a dry day with sunny spells and light winds.
“Temperatures will peak at 21-22C in the southeast on Friday before a chilly night.
“Even though it’s one of the shortest nights of the year it will be noticeably cool for this time of the year with even a touch of frost in parts of Scotland.”
Saturday is expected to be another fine day with plenty of sunshine around, although the northern half of Scotland could see the odd shower.
It will feel warmer in the sunshine, with highs of 23-24C in London and northwest England.
However, things will change on Sunday, which will see a risk of thunderstorms as a southeasterly wind sweeps warmer, humid air across the UK.
Mr Keates said: “It will be warmer on Sunday with 26C or so in the southeast and even places like Glasgow could see 23C or 24C.
“The broad idea is that we will have further areas of thunderstorms breaking out – nowhere in the country is completely immune. Central, southern and eastern areas likely to see the worst of those.
“At the same time in the southeast in particular if it does start brightening up on Tuesday and Wednesday, by Wednesday particularly there’s scope for temperatures to be close to slightly above 30C.
“That will all depend on how much sunshine we see but if we see cloud it will be 25C to 27C and will feel very warm and stuffy.
“On Tuesday there will be a top temperature of 31C or 32C in the southeast, and Wednesday could be slightly higher. It could be high teens minimum overnight.”
Mr Keates said he anticipated further thunderstorm warnings would go out into next week.
