Warm, humid air originating from the tropical Atlantic will bring a taste of summer warmth across much of England and Wales over the coming days with the hot weather extending into next week.

With plenty of sunshine, temperatures are expected to widely climb into the mid to high 20°Cs with some central and southeastern parts of England reaching the low 30°Cs, although it will be cooler near western, and some southern coasts, where sea breezes develop.

Further north, the weather will be more changeable, with areas of cloud and rain affecting Scotland and Northern Ireland at times, although there will still be some dry, warm and sunny conditions across southern and eastern Scotland and Northern Ireland with temperatures in the low to mid 20°C’s.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page said: “With high pressure building from the south west and warm air being drawn up from the Azores, the south of England will be very warm or hot this weekend and into next week. Daytime temperatures will widely be in the mid to high 20°C’s with some central and southeastern parts reaching the low 30°C’s. It will also feel warm and humid overnight.

“Looking ahead to next week, it’s likely that the very warm weather will continue across southern parts of the UK, although it could turn more unsettled later in the week with a risk of some thundery downpours.”

Although fine, sunny weather is welcomed by most, the clear skies mean that UV levels will be high over the coming days and so people should take care when outside enjoying the warm weather, especially between 11am and 3pm. Pollen levels are also high or very high across England and Wales with lower levels in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Met Office maintains the UK’s official weather statistics which show that it’s not unusual to see temperatures in excess of 30°C in June – we can expect to see at least one day where a temperature of over 30 °C is recorded in three years out of ten.

The last time we saw temperatures exceed 30 degrees in June was 30th June 2015 when temperatures reached 30.5 at Northolt, London during the afternoon of that day. However, standard climate observations record maximum temperatures over a 24 hour period from 0900 GMT to 0900 GMT and the highest temperature reached during the standard climatological day was 32.5 degrees at Heathrow just before 0900 on 1st July at the start of what became a record breaking hot July day.

Keep an eye on the weather in your area using our forecast pages and by following us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as using our new mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.