A creeping tropical heat dome will slide across Britain to stoke a 30C heatwave lasting into midsummer.
Swathes of the UK are warming up for the hottest spell of the year so far as the jet stream shifts and the mercury soars.
The Azores High, the driver of glorious summer weather, will this week sweep up from the coast of Portugal.
The outlook for the UK for the next two weeks is likely to be blue skies, sunshine and tropical warmth.
Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “High pressure is building across the south of the UK and shifting the jet stream further north of the UK and that sets the scene for the rest of the week.
“High pressure near the Azores just to the west of Portugal extends its influence towards the UK, in other words, it is an extension of the Azores High.
“High pressure to the south is occasionally likely to cover the whole of the UK, most likely is high pressure ridging across the south, keeping weather patterns to the north, and for the summer solstice, high pressure ridging across the UK.”
Temperatures across southern and eastern parts of the country could nudge 30C by the end of the week, according to some forecasters.
30C on the cards this week
NETWEATHER
High pressure, which can often wedge in place to create a dome of rising temperatures, will ‘ebb and flow’, allowing the odd shower into the north, McGivern warned.
He said: “Much higher than usual pressure is expected across the UK, particularly across the south, and that would lead to higher-than-average temperatures, and it is the south where we are more likely to see drier and sunnier weather, and to the north it is more likely at times to be changeable.
“We are expecting high pressure to ebb and flow across the UK through the week, there is just some uncertainty over which days will see the different positions of that high pressure.”
As temperatures soar, bookmakers are slashing the odds on a record summer with Coral offering 1-2 from 2-1 on a three-month scorcher.
Met Office’s Aidan McGivern describes the Azores High coming over UK
MET OFFICE
Spokesman John Hill said: “It is now odds-on for the UK to have the hottest summer on record this year.
“With a dry spell on the way, we have also pulled the plug on our betting on there being a hosepipe ban this summer.”
Fine weather will arrive after a Spanish heat plume erupted in a weekend of thunderstorms.
Low pressure to the west of the UK joined forces with heat and humidity from the south to ignite a powder keg.
However, a ‘late start to summer’ will bring a longed-for change to blue skies and sunshine.
Jim Dale, meteorologist for British Weather Services and social commentator, said: “This is going to be the late start to summer that brings more in the way of settled weather and higher temperatures.
“We could see 30C during this spell, which would be the hottest day of the year so far.
“The hot weather is going to gradually move from the south of the country to the north, with much of the UK turning hotter through the week.”