UK to see 'one last blast of summer' next week
11 September 2020, 19:35
The UK will see "one last blast of summer" next week, with temperatures set to climb above 30C.
The mercury could top out at 31C in of southern England next Tuesday, but not before parts of Scotland will be hit by torrential downpours that could bring almost a month's worth of rain in just one day.
According to Met Office forecaster Bonnie Diamond, the "tropical continental air pushing up from a southerly direction in combination with light winds" will see temperatures up to 25C on Sunday and then 29C by Monday.
The top temperatures expected on Tuesday could remain on Wednesday, but there is the possibility of some thunderstorms mixed in.
"It's definitely feels like one last blast of summer even though we are, meteorologically speaking, in autumn," she added.
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The September heat follows on from an August heatwave which saw temperatures top out at 34C for six days running last month.
The highest temperature ever recorded in September was 35.6C on September 2 1906, but they "don't look like they're going to come anywhere close to that in this current hot spell", the forecaster said.
After a sunny Saturday across the country, the evening will bring the wet weather to parts of western and north western Scotland "for what looks like at least 24 hours".
A yellow weather warning is in force for the region through Saturday and Sunday, advising that there could be floods and communities cut off as 150mm of rainfall is expected.
The average total rain for the region in September is 155.9mm.
South of the border, Ms Diamond described the weekend's weather as "pretty decent" with "high pressure in charge".
She added: "We're looking at a mostly dry weekend away from north-west Scotland with the promise of sunshine."
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It comes as the number of newly diagnosed cases in the UK continues to rise, with higher incidence seen in young people aged 18 to 24 years.
SAGE have described the figures as a "wake-up call", saying additional measures such as local interventions may be needed to control the spread of the virus.
The coronavirus R number has risen above 1 in the UK, official figures show. This means the virus is growing exponentially.
SAGE have said their latest estimate for the R rate across the UK is between 1.0 and 1.2. Last week’s official R rate was 0.9 to 1.1.
The R rate - also known as the reproduction number - is a way of rating coronavirus or any disease's ability to spread.
The rate has not been this high since early March, however the virus is still at much lower levels than at the peak of the pandemic in April.
The figure is slightly higher in London and the North West - between 1.1 and 1.3 in both regions.
