TEMPERATURES are set to soar to 29°C this week in Basingstoke as large parts of southern UK are forecast a heatwave.

The Met Office said that official heatwave criteria will be met in parts of southern UK this week, as temperatures are likely to exceed 30°C in some places - the highest since the start of July. 

Just as the school summer holidays come to an end, temperatures will be on the rise in the early part of this week, likely to peak on Wednesday and Thursday.

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The forecast shows that Tuesday and Wednesday will be the hottest days in Basingstoke, with temperatures reaching 29°C on both days, but feeling like 31°C on Wednesday.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Mark Sidaway said: “High pressure is situated to the southeast of the UK, which is bringing more settled conditions with temperatures on the rise through the first half of this week.

"While the highest temperatures are expected in the south, heatwave conditions are likely across much of England and Wales especially, with parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland also likely to see some unseasonably high temperatures.

“An active tropical cyclone season in the North Atlantic is helping to amplify the pattern across the North Atlantic, and has pushed the jet stream well to the north of the UK, allowing some very warm air to be drawn north.

"It’s a marked contrast to the much of meteorological summer, when the UK was on the northern side of the jet stream with cooler air and more unsettled weather.”

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In addition to high daytime temperatures, which could see official heatwaves be observed from as early as Tuesday in some spots, it will remain uncomfortably warm overnight, especially in the south, with a chance of tropical nights, which is when overnight temperatures remain in excess of 20°C.

In Basingstoke, the temperature is forecast to be 21°C at 1am on Thursday morning.

The highest overnight minimum temperature for September on record is 21.7°C, and this record could be threatened on Wednesday and Thursday nights in particular.

The UK Health Security Agency, which provides alerts specifically for the health and social care sector, has issued a Yellow Heat Health Alert which highlights increased risks to those more vulnerable to heat.

The Yellow alert for the South East is in place from 2pm on September 4 to 9pm on September 10.

Further information on how to help protect vulnerable people you know, including older people, those with underlying conditions and those who live alone, to keep cool and hydrated can be found here. 

The Met Office said temperatures will gradually decline into the weekend, with the South East retaining the warm weather for the longest.

The forecast for Basingstoke shows temperatures of 26°C for both Saturday and Sunday.

Mark Sidaway continued: “A cold front will begin to influence things from the northwest ahead of the weekend, bringing temperatures down and an increasing chance of rain for those in the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“There’s still a large degree of uncertainty on the exact timing of this front, and there’s a chance that those further south in the UK could keep some higher than average temperatures through much of the weekend, perhaps even into the start of next week, though even this will be a step down from the peak that we’ll see in mid-week.”