After a few days of relatively milder temperatures of 26C, the weekend will get progressively hotter before Monday and Tuesday see temperatures over 35C across much of the UK. The heat is so

extreme the Met Office has issued its first-ever red warning, flagging an “exceptional hot spell on Monday and Tuesday”. Monday and Tuesday see a red warning over urban areas in England,

ranging from Surrey up to Manchester and York. The warning, in effect from midnight on Monday to the end of Tuesday, said: “Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking, temperatures are likely on

Monday, then again on Tuesday. Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm for the UK, especially in urban areas. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and

helps pull the hot air towards the UK. “Spain, Portugal and France already have heatwave warnings. With temperatures in the mid to high 30s and reaching 40C.” She also added: “There is a

high chance that the UK record will be broken and a fair chance that 40C will be reached. “It looks to end by midweek, so relatively short-lived, with showers appearing from the SW then NW

later on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday. “As the last of the heat fades from eastern Britain on Wednesday there could be heavy, thundery showers but a lot of uncertainty.” The Met

Office described the forecast heat that is coming from France and Spain as “absolutely unprecedented”. They urged people to treat it like a storm warning and consider changing plans. Bob

Ward, the policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “We could see 1,500 to 2,000 deaths just from this one period of heat.” The

Government’s Cobra emergency committee met on Thursday to discuss the heatwave and officials are to meet again over the weekend.