London is in the grip of its third heatwave of the year, with temperatures reaching 34C on Monday – and the scorching conditions show no sign of relenting. The mercury is forecast to hit 34C again on Thursday before easing to 31C and the high 20s over the weekend, according to the Met Office. If the prediction holds, the capital will have endured an eight-day heatwave, with daily peaks staying above the 28C threshold for an official heatwave until at least the start of next week.
The prolonged hot spell follows record-breaking temperatures at the end of June, when Norfolk hit 37.7C on June 26 – the hottest June day on record. In late May, an unprecedented heatwave saw 35.1C at Kew Gardens, the highest UK temperature ever recorded for that month. Now, warm and increasingly humid conditions are expected to persist into the weekend, bringing a growing risk of showers and thunderstorms.
“London faces an eight-day heatwave with 34C highs, as BBC forecaster Chris Fawkes warns of 'incredibly long-lived' hot weather.”
BBC Weather forecaster Chris Fawkes described the current outlook as “incredibly long-lived” for parts of the UK. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday, he said: “Somewhere in the UK is likely to reach 30C not just through the rest of this week, through the weekend but through the whole of next week as well.” Only a small upward tick in forecasted temperatures would extend that prediction to London.
The heatwave is already exposing the limits of the capital’s ageing bus fleet. Transport for London has activated an emergency response as bus drivers face sweltering conditions, with extreme heat sparking pressure on the network. Londoners have flocked to lidos across the city, while public services have been stretched by the heat and humidity.
If the current forecast pans out, London will have experienced a heatwave stretching from Monday through to the following Monday – eight consecutive days of temperatures above the heatwave threshold. After that, a slight drop to 27C is expected, but the immediate future remains sweltering.