UK weather - how hot will this week be? Is it a heatwave? Met Office verdict

Today is likely to see temperatures of 24C or 25C, and the week will increased in warmth until Wednesday or Thursday when there could be a peak of 28C or 29C. Only the north of Scotland is expected to see rain.

During the night temperatures will drop down to at least low teens, so “we shouldn’t suffer too much with warm nights”, Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said.

He added: “We’re certainly on track to see the warmest spell of the year so far.”

Monday is likely to be the hottest day of the year, which currently is April 24, when it hits 24C, and then following days could break the record again until the peak, Mr Snell said.

He added: “There will be plenty of sunshine around, the very north of Scotland at times will see some spells of rain, especially at the beginning of the week, but it’s going to be limited to the far north of Scotland. For a lot of the UK it’s going to be largely sunny.”

Temperatures will be “markedly higher” than what they should be for this time of year, as at the end of April it is usually about 12C in the north and 16C in the south, so some areas could be more than 10C higher than the average.

Records for April and May are unlikely to be broken as the record for April stands at 29.4C, and May’s record is 32.8C.

But some local records at stations could be broken, the forecaster added.

It will be close to what the Met Office considers a heatwave in some areas but there is not likely to be a heatwave widely, Mr Snell said.

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.

The threshold is 25C for most of the UK, with slightly higher numbers for the south and east, and rising to 28C in London. On Friday, temperatures will start to drop towards the average for the time of year, with temperatures in the high teens in the south and mid teens in the north, Mr Snell said.