The UK has spent much of June basking in summer sunshine, with the hottest day of the year last weekend seeing temperatures soaring to 32.2C.

The month has brought us some serious extremes of weather, with thunderstorms and heavy rain bringing the heatwave to a crashing halt in some parts of the country – before temperatures began to nudge upwards once again, just in time for revellers at Glastonbury to bask in the heat.

However this week is a different story as the Met Office has forecast grey skies, rain, drizzle, brisk winds and moderate temperatures as we move into July.

It might seem as though summer is over before it’s really begun – but the warmer weather is being forecast to return, with speculation that we could see a repeat of the sweltering 40C temperatures we experienced in July 2022.

Just when will the heatwave return – and how hot could it get?

When will the heatwave return?

After a brief period of cooler weather at the start of July, The Met Office has hinted that things will heat up again from around July 13.

According to their long-range forecast: ‘The chances of above-average temperatures redeveloping are slightly higher than normal.

‘The chance of heatwave conditions developing is thus also slightly higher than normal, although the occurrence of heatwaves is not unusual for July.’

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The forecast also suggests that high pressure could ‘become dominant’ in the second half of the month which in turn could lead to what it describes as ‘fairer conditions, especially in the south’.

But while it’s looking good for a hot spell in July, the long-range outlook can change at any time – so be sure to keep an eye on the forecast before you get the barbecue and the sunbed out.

How hot could it get?

It’s been suggested that we could be in for a hot spell to rival that of 2022, when the country roasted in record breaking temperatures of 40C for the first time.

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey told The Mirror: ‘Because of the change in climate our extreme temperatures are continuously being pushed. There is an increasing chance these extremes could get pushed further.

‘We got 40C last year and before that happened no one thought there was an outside chance. There’s also a possibility we do continue to see those trends.’

Last year saw the temperature record broken in the UK as a high of 40.3°C was recorded at Coningsby, Lincolnshire – which has also given us the hottest day of 2023 so far.

The Met Office state that: ‘A UK heatwave threshold is met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold.’

This threshold varies by UK county, which means a heatwave can take different forms across the UK.

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