Temperatures are set to soar into the high twenties with much of the South East set to enjoy its warmest day of the year, forecasters said on Thursday.
Meteorologists said the capital and Essex will bask in warm sunshine with the mercury climbing to 27C and even 28C.
The balmy weather will make central England hotter than Faro in Portugal, Barcelona in Spain and Istanbul in Turkey.
MeteoGroup forecaster Sean Penston said: “Fair weather cloud will clear in the late morning to leave plenty of sunshine with a pleasant southwesterly breeze.”
According to MeteoGroup the hottest temperature so far this year was in Southampton where 26.8C was recorded on June 13.
The hot conditions are expected to continue till Friday after which temperatures drop to around 20C as a band of rain sweeps across the country in the weekend.
The Met Office gave a slightly different picture for the rest of Britain warning of cloudy with patchy rain across Wales and northern and western England.
Fresher and brighter weather is also expected across Scotland and Northern Ireland with a few showers, and more persistent rain in the west later.
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