UK weather: Temperatures set to hit 35C on 'hottest day of the year so far'

30 July 2020, 18:31

Disappointed holiday-goers may take some comfort from the weekend forecast, as the Met Office predicts that parts of the UK will be hotter than mainland Europe.

The Met Office says it expects Friday to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures even nudging into 35C (95F) in Greater London.

Popular tourist spots on the continent including Ibiza, Lisbon and Berlin fall short of the UK high, reaching 33C (91.4F), 30C (86F) and 25C (77F) respectively.

Back home the hot weather will be widespread across south eastern areas in Kent and Cambridgeshire, where temperatures will stay around 33-34C (93.2F).

Manchester is expected to peak at 32C (89.6F) and parts of Wales will also reach 30C (86F).

A spokesman for the Met added that popular south-coast destinations such as Devon, Cornwall will stay "fresher", with temperatures peaking in the mid 20s, and sunseekers in Brighton will enjoy a pleasant 28C (82.4F) high.

But the good weather is expected to be short-lived and will not extend into the three-day "heatwave territory".

Northern Ireland will be caught by a slow moving weather front on Friday, keeping temperatures at a balmy 22C (71.6F), that will go on to cool the rest of the UK on Saturday.

The front will result in temperature drops of up to 10C overnight with highs of 26C (78.8F) and 21C (69.8F) in London and Manchester respectively, on Saturday.

Bournemouth beach packed with sunbathers

The UK average temperature for this July is currently on course to be just 14.1C (57.4F), one degree less than the 1981-2010 long-term average of 15.2C (59.4F), data from the Met shows.

So far this month, the highest maximum temperature recorded was 28.5C (83.3F) on July 17 at Heathrow Airport.

The UK has already surpassed 100 of the average monthly rainfall and only experienced two thirds (66%) of the expected sunshine for an average July, a total of 113.4 hours, Met Office figures show.

"We've not seen a temperature anywhere above 30 so far or even with a three in it, that is quite unusual for July," a Met spokesman said.

"In terms of shifting the overall weather stats for the month, it's not going to do much to the average."

Sun worshippers flock to Bournemouth beach

Last month, new social distancing measures were introduced in England allowing groups of up to six people to meet and exercise outdoors together as long as they observe social distancing rules, such as staying two metres apart.

On the hot weekend following this, beaches across the country were packed as sunbathers turned out in their thousands to bask in the hot weather.

On Bournemouth beach in Dorset, pictures and videos show large groups of people seemingly disregarding social distancing measures put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In Southend-on-Sea in Essex, families and friends were seen gathering along a crowded beach despite the public being reminded to continue following social distancing rules following the relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

A major incident was declared in Bournemouth after thousands of people swamped the beach on the hottest day of the year.

Caller who went to Bournemouth beach insists she did nothing wrong

The local authority, BCP council, covers Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. They instigated a multi-agency emergency response to tackle the issues caused by people descending on the beach.

There were reports of drug-taking, fights, people using residents' gardens as toilets, abuse of refuse collectors, as well as more widespread issues of overcrowding.

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole council leader Vikki Slade told LBC News today: "People on the beach were only part of the problem. It was the behaviour of those people.

"They used people's gardens as toilets and car parks, blocking their access and using roundabouts to park cars.

"The amount of litter they have taken off the beach this morning is just awful, the impact that has on our local environment is dreadful.

"We also saw antisocial behaviour from some people, violence, fights, drug-taking - that's not welcome at all.

"That's why we needed all the other agencies to step in and help us collectively."