British heatwave broken up by smoke particles from European wildfires

The Met Office said "Smoke from wildfires in Spain and Portugal, plus Saharan dust, has drifted over the UK."

This has caused hazy conditions bringing with overcast weather on Saturday.

Despite this, the UK can expect "enhanced sunsets and sunrises in the coming days - deeper reds & oranges thanks to light scattering."

Wildfire smoke affects they skies colour through a process known as Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering.

When the light reaches the Earth's atmosphere, the sun's light hits molecules of nitrogen and oxygen which scatters the light.

Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said the hazy conditions "will hang around for the next few days".

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Temperatures will stay in the mid to high twenties, reaching 28C in some parts, as hazy sunshine moves from southwest England into Wales and Northern Ireland.

Outside Madrid, firefighters had largely contained a blaze that broke out on Monday night, authorities said. It killed a man who suffered burns on 98% of his body, emergency services said.

Elsewhere, firefighters and nearly 1,000 soldiers were battling blazes in regions including Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia. Thousands of people evacuated homes and hotels, including holiday-goers at beaches at the southern tip of Spain.

Regional authorities said on Tuesday afternoon that some of those evacuated from beach locations could return to their hotels.

In Portugal, more than 700 firefighters were working to control a fire in the municipality of Trancoso, about 217 miles (350km) north-east of Lisbon. Smaller fires were burning further north.

Europe - where temperatures in some areas were soaring past 40C - is warming faster than any other continent, at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Last year was the hottest year on record in Europe and globally, the monitoring agency said.

Scientists warn climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making parts of Europe more vulnerable to wildfires.