The Met Office has forecast temperatures of 40C for the first time ever in the UK.
In Greater Manchester the mercury is expected to reach 34C on Tuesday - with a chance of record-breaking temperatures in the south of the country.
A rare red weather warning for extreme heat is in place Monday and Tuesday for parts of central, northern, eastern and southeastern England. The Met Office said there is a 50% chance of temperatures reaching more than 40C and an 80% chance a new maximum UK temperature will be recorded.
The current highest temperature reached in the UK is 38.7C, which was recorded in Cambridge in July 2019. Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said: “Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas. This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure.
“It is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”
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The Met Office said high pressure is continuing to dominate the southern half of the UK, which has caused the warm weather already experienced in the past couple of weeks. It said this, combined with no rain and very hot air is the cause of the “exceptional temperatures.”
This weekend, a developing southerly allowed very high temperatures currently building over Europe to start to spread northwards into the UK, according to the Met Office. It said: “Over the past couple of weeks, high temperatures have gradually been building day by day.
“As we head into Monday and Tuesday, very hot air in the south will combine with high pressure making it extremely hot. That is why we have the red warning that includes Manchester.”
The hot weather can also be attributed to climate change, as climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, Dr Nikos Christidis, said: “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the UK.
"The chances of seeing 40C days could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence. The likelihood of exceeding 40°C anywhere in the UK in a given year has also been rapidly increasing, and even with current pledges on emissions reductions, such extremes could be taking place every 15 years in the climate of 2100.”
Although extreme heat events do occur within natural climate variation due to changes in global weather patterns, the increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of these events over recent decades is clearly linked to the observed warming of the planet and can be attributed to human activity, according to the Met Office
Temperatures are expected to start to return closer to normal for the time of year from Wednesday as cooler air pushes across the country from the west.
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