Shropshire weather: Hot spell with very little rain on the way, says Met Office

Sun lovers will no doubt be very happy but farmers, gardeners and water companies look set to suffer from "very little meaningful rain".

An area of high pressure building from the Atlantic into the south and south west of England will bring rising temperatures, with some areas expected to reach low or even mid 30sC by the end of next week.

Temperatures are forecast to rise across Shropshire, where in July the county roasted in an unprecedented blast of heat from Africa.

Steve Willington, Met Office chief forecaster, said: “We could see parts of the UK entering heatwave conditions if the above-average temperatures last for three days or more.

"Many areas of the UK, especially the south will witness temperatures several degrees higher than average, but these values are likely to be well below the record-breaking temperatures we saw in mid-July.

Met Office graphic shows temperatures compared with the difference to average:

“As the high pressure builds there is very little meaningful rain in the forecast, especially in those areas in the south of England, which experienced very dry conditions last month. Elsewhere in the UK, such as in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, rain-bearing weather fronts will make limited headway against the high pressure, bringing some rain to north-western parts of the UK.”

Rebekah Sherwin is a deputy chief meteorologist with the Met Office.

She said: “The weather pattern bringing next week’s hot spell is different to the one responsible for last month’s record-breaking temperatures which saw already hot air being drawn up from southern Europe adding to our own home-grown heat.

“This time, that is much less likely; instead, temperatures will build steadily within the lingering area of high pressure.

“There is some uncertainty about next week’s temperatures, although in early August sunshine in the UK doesn’t have the heating potential of mid-July as the sun is lower in the sky and the hours of daylight are marginally shorter.

"Both of these factors suggest that we’re very unlikely to see temperatures peak much above low to mid 30s. However, this would still be a hot spell of weather.”

Although it’s too early to say how long the hot spell will last, there are indications of a return to more changeable conditions from about mid-August. While temperatures may continue above average in the south, this change would reduce the chance of prolonged high temperatures.

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “Our region has seen a dry start to the year, only seeing 67 per cent of the rainfall usually expected between April-June 2022. However, there hasn’t been a hosepipe ban in our region for more than 27 years (since 1995), and as we do every year, we continue to monitor reservoir levels and demand for water closely.

“We’d like to thank all of our customers for their support in being mindful about non-essential water use as the warm and dry weather continues into the summer.”