UK weather: Britain to be hotter than St Lucia next week

Britain is set to be hotter than Caribbean island St Lucia next week after weather forecasters predicted temperatures of up to 34C in the UK.

The heatwave from Europe will bring hot and sunny conditions to Britain, particularly the south.

Leon Brown, Chief Forecaster at The Weather Channel, tells AOL Travel: "It is now looking even more certain that the UK will experience a heatwave next week.

"High temperatures building over Iberia this weekend will reach over 40C, perhaps 43 to 44C around Seville and Cordoba in the south and 41C in Zaragoza in the north.

"Next week, a southerly flow will develop over western Europe and this heat, plus more heat from northern Africa, will expand northwards across France to the UK."

Leon adds: "By the middle of next week temperatures will be as high as 30C over the south of the UK and there is a 30 per cent risk that temperatures could reach 34C by next Thursday and widely in the low 30s across central and southern Britain."

The heatwave comes as Andy Murray kicks off his Wimbledon campaign next week.

Hotter weather next week with parts of southern Britain likely to reach around 30 °C http://t.co/GHqbNwiU4P pic.twitter.com/DM8j4YbTlh
— Met Office (@metoffice) June 25, 2015

"Some locations may get close to record temperatures, although the UK July record will take some beating at 37C set in Barbourne, Worcestershire in 1900," says Leon. "The heat should be tempered towards the end of next week a bit as scattered thunderstorms are likely to develop, but still hot until the weekend in the east."

For the next few days, temperatures will be pleasant in the south and cool over the north of the UK, but Britons should also expect some rain. A band of rain will move eastwards tomorrow followed by fresher weather from the west.

Mr Brown says the south of the UK will catch very little rain and some places will escape dry.

The Met Office says: "We do expect to see temperatures rise across the whole of the UK for the start of July.

"Scotland could see highs in the low to mid 20s (although it may be cloudy here at times), and highs across southern Britain are likely to reach the low 30s Celsius with a small chance of values in the mid-30s here.

"It's worth saying that there is some uncertainty about how much of the hot weather from the continent will reach us, and it may only last a couple of days before temperatures drop a little. As is traditional with hot weather in the UK in the summer it may end with thunderstorms."