UK set for warmest April day in seven years as temperatures soar

27 April 2025, 14:28 | Updated: 27 April 2025, 15:28

The UK is set for a warm April.
The UK is set for a warm April. Picture: Getty

By Alice Padgett

The UK is bracing for several days of warm weather next week, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 27C - the hottest day in April in seven years.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Forecasters predict conditions will become increasingly warm from Monday – but whether any parts of the country will see an official heatwave remains to be seen.

Wednesday and Thursday look set to be the warmest days of the week, with 27C expected “quite widely”, most likely in London, Berkshire, Hampshire, and possibly Kent and East Anglia.

The hottest April temperature ever recorded is 29.4C in London on 16 April 1949.

The last time the temperature reached highs of 27C was April 2018 in Cambridge.

Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesperson, said: “This would always have been a naturally warm spell

“However, with the footprint of climate change, you can expect it to add a degree or so to the values that we would have expected.

“So, it’s likely that the temperatures for this event will be slightly higher.

“At the moment, it looks as though we’re probably not going to see heatwave conditions met.”

According to the Met Office, the definition of a heatwave is three consecutive days of temperatures exceeding the “heatwave threshold”, which varies across the country.

Read More: Dry April and March leads to more wildfires in the UK so far in 2025 than in any full year over past decade

London UK 27 April 2025.  People out enjoying   the sunshine on  Wimbledon Common, south west London.
London UK 27 April 2025. People out enjoying the sunshine on Wimbledon Common, south west London. Picture: Alamy

The warmer weather comes after a difficult period for fire services across the country which battled wildfires earlier in month following historically low rainfall in March.

More land in the UK has been burned by wildfires so far in 2025 than in any full year over the past decade, new figures have shown.

Data from the Global Wildfire Information System which has been recording fire activity since 2012, show that more than 29,200 hectares have burned so far in 2025.

The previous record set in 2019 was 28,100 hectares.

The researchers said that a long stint of dry, sunny weather in March and early April created the right conditions for fires.

Wildfires are a regular occurrence in the UK during early spring, as dead or dormant vegetation left over from winter can dry out quickly and ignite easily.