Is the UK set for hottest week of 2018 so far?

Deck chairs in the sunshine Credit: Joanne Joyce

Could there be some truth in the headlines this week?

"Temperatures into the 80s"

"UK to swelter in soaring temperatures"

"Hot and humid Heatwave to bake Britain"

We've all read them. The eye grabbing headlines used to entice you and I in. Making us click links and read newspapers, but could there be some truth in the headlines this week?

As we approach the Summer Solstice tomorrow June 21st - the point at which the sun is at it's highest location in the sky in the Northern hemisphere - the UK Summer season is well underway.

High pressure over the weekend is set to dominate our weather pattern, bringing a largely dry and settled weekend with some warm sunny spells and this theme will continue into next week.

High pressure in charge bringing warm and settled weather Credit: ITV Weather

Computer models are coming into line to suggest that the high will slip away to the east allowing us to see a southerly/southeasterly airflow develop across the UK, dragging the warm air from the continent towards us.

Day to day variations in cloud amounts will have an impact on the temperatures but with the air mass remaining in place for several days, the air will quickly warm up.

This is likely to bring some fine, settled and hot weather across the south of the UK. As always it will be that bit cooler towards the coast, but I'm sure this will be welcomed.

What is a Heatwave?A heatwave refers to a prolonged period of hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity.

Average daily maximum for the Anglia region in June is 20.2°C

Although May and June (so far) have been warmer and drier than average, the highest temperature so far this year was recorded back in April! This though looks set to change as temperatures from this Friday will rise day on day. It's likely that from mid-week they will be in the high 20s and low 30s. Night time temperatures will hold up too, which may make it uncomfortable for sleeping.

As always this does bring us the threat of some localised heavy thundery showers, which we can firm up closer to the time.

Of course, the devil is in the detail, and we'll keep you posted on the forecast here at ITV Weather.

But for now, I'm off to buy some new BBQ tongs!