Weekend set to bring mini heatwave across Kent, forecasters say

Kent is set to bask in a mini-heatwave this weekend, as temperatures are set to soar.

A spell of high pressure means most areas in the county will meet the Met Office’s definition of a heatwave – defined as three days above a particular temperature threshold.

If forecast predictions are true, Maidstone is set to be 23C on Saturday and 25C on Sunday, Dartford is set to reach 24C on Saturday and 26C on Sunday, Canterbury and Whitstable are set to be 23C on Saturday and 24C on Sunday, Sheppey's Minster Leas is set to be 23C on both days, and Margate is set to be 22C on both days.

Elsewhere in the UK, the weekend is set to be a scorcher with the mercury potentially tipping 30C (86F) in parts of the South East by the beginning of next week.

And, if you cannot get out and about this weekend, it looks like there will still be plenty of time to work on your tan, with at least a few more weeks of sunshine on the way, according to Met Office data.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon told the PA news agency: “The theme of high pressure is expected to continue throughout June, although we might see incursions of unsettled weather in the north-western parts of the UK including some wet and windy weather in Scotland.

“The broad theme is that the high pressure will bring more settled conditions across the UK.”

The weather might turn at the start of July, but there is nothing concrete on the cards, Mr Claydon said.

“There are very early signs that the high pressure might start to break down at the end of the month but we are a long way from that yet,” he said.

Despite bookies offering odds on this being the hottest June ever, it is too early in the month to say whether we will see record-breaking average temperatures.

Mr Claydon explained that the average maximum daytime temperature for June is 17.3C (63.1F), but that the first eight days of June 2021 have sat a couple of degrees higher than that at 19.7C (67.5F).

The record average maximum June temperature was set in 1940 at 20.5C (68.9F).

“Currently we are not even in the top five hottest Junes on record,” Mr Claydon said.

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