‘Brief taste of summer’ as temperatures expected to hit 26C in London on Thursday

here could be a “brief taste of summer” as temperatures could hit highs of 29C in parts of England on Thursday.

The Met Office has said there could be a 24-hour break from the damp summer with warmer temperatures predicted. London is expected to reach 26C with a fine and dry day expected.

The temperature peaked at 25.9C in Yeovilton, Somerset, on Wednesday and it is expected to rise, the forecaster said.

Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge told the PA news agency: “Thursday is a mostly dry day. There could be a little bit of mist and fog around first thing, particularly across southwestern parts of England, but generally sunny spells through the day and mostly dry.

“We could get a few showers developing in the afternoon across northern parts of Wales, drifting up across north-west England. The odd rumble of thunder is possible but they are very few and far between.

“The big thing is obviously the temperatures. Temperature wise for (Thursday) we are looking at many parts of England, Wales and southern Scotland reaching the mid 20s.

“We could see highs of 27C to 28C, possibly 29C somewhere in eastern England.

“Midlands or East Midlands. Somewhere around the central parts of the UK is where you could see the highest temperature of a possible 29C.”

But the hot weather could be short-lived as a band of rain could move eastwards across the country as soon as Thursday night into Friday morning.

There will also be heavier bursts of rain in Scotland, the forecaster said.

He predicted Friday will be a day of “sunshine and showers” and temperatures will be in low to mid 20Cs, with highest temperatures in East Anglia.

Mr Partridge said: “As we go into weekend we’ll slowly see temperatures come back to high teens, low 20Cs through the weekend. So yes, it’s short-lived unfortunately, but a brief taste of summer.

“The good news is although this weekend will be a bit cooler than (Thursday), it is still around about average for the time of year.

“There will be showers around but there will also be a good amount of sunshine so it’s not going to be as bad as previous weekends we have seen recently.”