After weeks of wet and chilly weather, it looks like summer might be finally arriving. Temperatures are expected to reach highs of 27C in parts of the UK next week as the summer holidays get under way in England.

Clouds and cooler weather returned this weekend after the hottest day of the year so far on Friday, with a temperature of 31.9C at St James’s Park, central London, making it the warmest recorded day of 2024.

After the largely cooler start to the weekend, there will be fresher, brighter, drier weather on Sunday. Temperatures look likely to stay around the low 20Cs, which is the July average.

Craig Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told PA Media that the east will probably see a “grey start” to Sunday, while the south will see temperatures reach their high teens.

As the day goes on, most of the country “will see dry and bright spells”, he said.

Into next week, rain is expected to move in from the west on Monday. The north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will see wet spells, while the south will remain largely untouched by rain.

The weather is likely to settle on Tuesday and Wednesday, with temperatures starting to climb in some areas. In the south, temperatures could reach as high as 27C in a few spots.

Thursday is then expected to be wet before more typical July weather returns going into next weekend.

Snell said: “It won’t be wall-to-wall sunshine and we’ll see rain in the north on Monday and the rest of the country on Thursday.

“It also won’t be as hot as recent days but warmer than the start to July. It will be an improvement.

“Overall, the south-east and south are likely to see the warmest temperatures next week.”

The sunnier weather comes after a chilly and rainy July. London received 154% of its usual July rainfall in the first half of the month, before temperatures soared at the end of last week.

As a result, heat health alerts were in force across the Midlands, eastern and southern England from Friday until 11am on Saturday. These alerts were primarily for the health and social care services, warning that heat could affect elderly people and those with underlying health conditions.

The previous highest UK temperature of 2024 so far was 30.5C (86.5F), recorded at Wisley in Surrey on 26 June.

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