El Scorchio – Heat wave forecast to reach the UK next week

Following somewhat of a lul of any particularly interesting weather since the very end of June, when temperatures reached 34C in Heathrow and Northolt on the 30th of June, things are picking up again. The GFS and ECM weather models (used for weather forecasting) and others are consistently forecasting a spike of heat next week for much of the British Isles and western Europe. There is a good chance of temperatures reaching the mid 30’s for parts of England for 2 or 3 consecutive days mid next week! A proper “heat wave”, though rather short – lived.

The intense heat looks to be mostly confined to central and eastern Britain, much of England, eastern Wales for example. Further north west, for Irish Sea coasts, and particularly Northern Ireland and western Scotland, temperatures will be more tolerable, and the high temperatures wont last as long as further south east, where they could be sustained through much of the week.




The proper heat arrives for many central and southern areas from Monday, with highs of 29 or 30C possible in the south east. Scotland and Northern Ireland will still be cooler, at 14 to 20C, with some damp weather:

 

By Tuesday the heat becomes more widespread, reaching parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland with temperatures into the low to mid 20s. Further south east, temperatures could reach 90F (32C) on Tuesday in the hottest spots:

 

That continues into Wednesday. There is still some uncertainty with regards to exactly how hot it will get – although at the moment highs of 34/35C at some point next week, either Wednesday or Thursday, look pretty likely. Temperatures could be even hotter than that, potentially, but that is only a low risk at the moment and if it develops we will let you know. Still, some very hot weather is on the way, unusually so for this country but it seems to be becoming increasingly common!

Through the middle and later part of the week there is an increasing chance of thunderstorms, which could be lively. This is just a heads-up right now as detail is often rather limited at this meteorological range, due to uncertainty.