UK weather: How hot will it be this weekend and when will the heatwave end?

The unrelenting dry weather with finally break today with thunderstorms and rain forecast across much of the UK.

The Sun reports that "northern rain will move into south Wales and the English Midlands, leaving western Scotland and Northern Ireland with late sunshine. The south east will become hot, triggering hit-and-miss thunderstorms later."

In the South East and London, there are warnings of thunderstorms this afternoon.

A yellow thunderstorm warning has been issued by the Met Office between 2pm and midnight, and there is even a risk of flooding.

Over the weekend, expect more hot, dry weather, which will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Reports say that the heatwave could continue for another blistering six weeks.

BBC Weather meteorologist Stav Danaos said: "As we head in towards next week things are hotting up for England and Wales. To the north and the west though we’ll see a new weather front which will wax and wane here, fairly cloudy and cool conditions at times.

"But for England and Wales, it starts to import very warm and humid south-westerly winds and, don’t be surprised, one or two places in the south-east could reach 32C or 33C."