Walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts heading for Yorkshire's hills are being warned of heatwave temperatures
Britain’s official weather forecasters have issued an amber alert as a heatwave is expected to increase the risk to vulnerable groups in parts of England over the weekend.
The Met Office said temperatures are expected to climb close to heatwave thresholds across the East Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber regions during Friday and Saturday.
The highest temperatures are then expected to move southwards to affect the East of England, south-east England, London and parts of south-west England during Saturday and Sunday.
The Yorkshire and the Humber region is expected to reach level three, the second highest level, one below a national emergency.
The forecasters said: “This stage requires social and healthcare services to target specific actions at high-risk groups.
“Heatwaves can be dangerous, especially for the very young, very old or those with chronic diseases.”
The alert was issued shortly before noon today.
The heat-health watch system uses four levels of response based on threshold maximum daytime and minimum night-time temperatures. The Met Office said the thresholds vary by region, but an average threshold temperature is 30C by day and 15C overnight.
Steve Willington, chief forecaster at the Met Office said: “Many parts of the UK will continue to see very high temperatures as we head over the weekend.
“We are expecting the hottest day of the year on Saturday with temperatures expected to reach over 30C in parts of the South-East.
“With strong UV levels for many areas as well it is important for people to keep up to date with our forecasts over the next few days.”
The Met Office also warned the heatwave could trigger isolated thunderstorms across parts of England and Wales on Saturday.
The Mountain Weather Information Service said there would be little or no rainfall over England, Wales and eastern Scotland.
It said warmer, possibly hot, sunnier, mainly dry conditions are likely to extend north later in the week and into next weekend.
“The ground will be widely extremely dry by then with associated increasingly high fire-risk levels except possibly in the west and north-west Highlands.”
