The Met Office chief executive confirmed on Monday that “we will be able to see the hottest day in UK history”, but that Tuesday is expected to be even hotter, with some forecasts estimating highs of 43ºC (109F).
Professor Penelope Endersby told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “We think we can see the hottest day in history in the UK today, with the hottest temperatures in the south-east, but actually higher temperatures than we look forward to tomorrow, and these temperatures will be further north as warm air pushes north, so tomorrow we will really see the highest probability of 40 degrees and temperatures above.
“Even possibly above that … 41 isn’t off the charts. We even have some 43 on the model, but hopefully it’s not that high.”
He added that such extreme temperatures are not expected beyond Tuesday, but that the Meteorological Office will monitor the possibility of drought in the coming months.
“Well, we certainly don’t see these very warm temperatures persisting last Tuesday, so we expect a big drop in temperature, thankfully, during Wednesday night, a drop of 10 or 12 degrees from what it has been the previous days,” she said. . dit.
“We are still seeing more heat than average in our three-month outlook and also very dry, and our attention is directed, after these two days, to the drought and when we could see rain, and we are not seeing there. there is no significant rain. “