Brits are bracing for a sweltering week ahead as forecasters and meteorologists predict that temperatures will hit 31C in some parts of the country.
After a few weeks dreary weather and rain spells, a change in pressure has started pushing temperatures higher.
The Met Office is now predicting the weather in July will be "fine" and "dry" with "long sunny spells, variable cloud and light winds".
While scorching temperatures will be great news for some, for others a heatwave is their worst nightmare – think warm, sticky nights.
So how long will the heatwave last and when will it end? Here are the latest predictions from the Met Office and BBC Weather.
When will the heatwave end?
The period of hot weather, or heatwave if you will, starts today, Friday July 16.
So far, the Met Office's most detailed forecast runs until the end of Tuesday July 20, which will be another scorcher with highs of 27C expected.
The Met Office's current forecast for Sunday to Tuesday reads: "Largely settled and warm or very warm with plenty of sunshine. Cloudier and cooler across parts of the north on Sunday and into Monday with some rain in places."
Temperatures will remain in the mid-twenties on Wednesday, July 21, after which the heatwave will begin to subside.
BBC Weather said that the temperatures will "slowly climb above afverage with some very warm or hot afternoons over the weekend".
The glorious spell of weather should continue through next week, with the high pressure bringing the warmth.
BBC Weather predicts the heatwave should stick around to July 23 and 24, when the weather will become more unsettled, with the risk of rain.
Here is the latest Met Office long range forecast (July 20-July 29):
This period will continue to be influenced by an area of high pressure slowly moving across the UK. The odd shower remains possible across the south on Tuesday, but it will be largely dry with plenty of sunshine here and for western areas, with cloudier conditions and light rain further north and east.
Following this, it's likely that we'll see a good deal of widespread dry weather with plenty of sunshine, but with an increasing risk of heavy showers and thunderstorms developing from the south and west as the period goes on.
Temperatures continue to be very warm at first, perhaps locally hot in central and southern areas, before probably becoming somewhat cooler and fresher from the southwest later next week, heralding a change to a more unsettled spell.
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Here is BBC Weather's forecast for next week (July 19-July 25):
By late July there are some increasingly strong signals for a persistent high pressure system to linger in Scandinavia. The high pressure over us this week will gradually shift into Scandinavia next week.
This means that we should see some sunnier and drier days at first as high pressure is near enough to maintain its grip on the UK weather pattern. During this time, low pressure will be pushed away nearer to Iceland and should remain well off to the northwest. Later in the week as the high gets ever further away, we will see greater chances for low pressure systems to move in and bring some fresher and wetter conditions.
The shift away will be a gradual process that will take most of the week, as these large high pressure systems are often very sluggish to move about, especially in summertime. We may see a weak low pressure system earlier in the week attempt to creep in from the southwest, but the high should keep this off to the south until midweek.
