If you look out of your window, you might just see a strange yellow ball in the sky (don’t stare at it for too long, mind!)
That’s called the sun, and while we haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it for a while the next few days should see us reacquainted in epic fashion.
Pretty much the whole of the UK has been swept by a heatwave, and Thursday is likely to see temperatures as high as 28°C in places; the hottest since August last year.
Apparently, according to weather boffins, this unseasonably hot weather is being caused by low pressure over the Atlantic meeting high pressure over Eastern Europe, which draws warmer air to the UK. You’ll have to take the BBC’s word for that.
The thermometer has already peaked at 26°C today, recorded at Heathrow Airport, which rather puts into the shade the average April temperature of a less-than-sultry 12°C.
If the mercury does reach 28°C, it will trump the previously recorded high of 27.8°C, which was recorded in Surrey back in 2011.
Mind you, there is some way to go before we beat the record temperature ever set in April; a sweat-inducing 29.4°C back in 1949.
If you’re enjoying the heatwave, you’re in luck: The Met Office suggest it may be here for a while, on and off. Their medium-term forecast reads ‘….these conditions are likely to last to the start of May, with changeable conditions continuing in the north-west, while the south-east still has some decent dry and bright spells.’
So get out there and enjoy the sun; but be careful with it and remember to apply your sun cream. And if you are running in the London Marathon on Sunday….you have our deepest sympathies!
Hot Stuff
The bookmakers have muscled into the picture, and they have revealed some intriguing odds for those who enjoy the hotter weather.
They have gone odds-on that the mercury will reach 30°C somewhere in the UK, with the best chance of that being today or tomorrow judging by the forecast.
And the good news keeps on rolling, with some sportsbooks as short as 6/4 that April 2018 will be the hottest ever recorded.
Coral’s spokesman, John Hill, said: “The barbecue weather looks to be here to stay.”
“As a result, the odds on this month ending as the hottest April on record have been slashed, while the betting suggests temperatures could reach as high as 30°C before the week is out.”
And you can have a good laugh at anyone that has gone away on holiday in an attempt to chase the sun. The UK is expected to be hotter than Spain for the next week, with Ladbrokes slashing their odds to as short as 1/3 that the UK enjoys higher temperatures than any part of the Costas in the month of April.
At the time of writing, the mercury was at 24°C in Madrid, 25°C in Marseille, 26°C in Rome and a frankly pitiful 23°C in Athens!