Overview
- The Met Office expects a weakening high‑pressure system to allow a weather front to bring rain and cooler, showery conditions across much of the UK this weekend, July 25–26, but it warns the rainfall will be patchy and not widespread.
- Operational model outputs from GFS and WXCHARTS show a possible return to sustained heat in early August with a modelled peak around August 6 that could reach 38–39°C in parts of eastern and south‑eastern England; those predictions are reported as model projections, not confirmed forecasts.
- The Met Office’s long‑range outlook for August 6–20 says temperatures are very likely to remain above normal with potential for further hot spells, but the agency notes lower confidence in the exact timing and magnitude of any heat.
- Prolonged dry conditions have left many rivers and reservoirs at low levels and prompted widespread water restrictions, including a Thames Water temporary hosepipe ban affecting about 10.1 million customers.
- Scientists and agencies link this season’s repeated heatwaves to climate change, warn of growing health and economic costs, and say short bursts of rain this weekend are unlikely to remove the need for continued water‑use limits and heat preparation.