The Met Office has shared its verdict on news the UK is braced for the hottest summer in 50 years with five heatwaves predicted in the months ahead.
The national weather service has spoken out amid reports Brits will enjoy months of sweltering heat as the British summertime gets underway.
The Met Office’s three-month weather outlook suggests the UK will enjoy warmer temperatures with the probability of hot weather almost double that of recent years. Forecasters said there is a “40% chance” this summer “will be significantly hotter than average” with just a 10% probability that temperatures will be cooler.
Bank Holidays to look forward to in 2022
When does the heatwave start? Met Office shares verdict on reports of 'five heatwaves' this summer
Meteorologists at the Met Office shared the update as James Madden, weather forecaster at Exacta Weather predicted “four or five major heatwaves” this summer.
He said: “The overall summer forecast is now pointing towards at least four or five major heatwaves. These will build throughout the summer months, but at the moment, August looks the most likely to bring these blasts of very hot weather.
“The first major spell of summer could arrive as soon as late May.” It comes amid reports the UK could have a new hottest day of the year by the end of the week.
Ladbrokes slash odds on record-breaking summer
Ladbrokes is offering odds of 4/1 on the record summer temperature of 38.7C being surpassed this year.
The bookmaker’s spokesman, Alex Apati, said: “The odds suggest record-breaking temperatures could well be on the cards as we prepare to strap in and strip off for a summer scorcher."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here