UK weather: Temperatures set to soar making parts of Britain hotter than parts of the Mediterranean

Britain is set to bask in temperatures higher than those in the Mediterranean over the coming week as the official start of summer fast approaches.

After a dismal bank holiday for many, with subsequent wet and windy weather across much of the UK, midweek will see a shift to noticeably warmer and more settled conditions.

While the beginning of the week will remain cool with gusts expected, from Wednesday the mercury will soar to over 25C and could hit 30C on Saturday in parts of the south and the Midlands.

This will be more than 5C higher than expected temperatures in destinations in the south of France and Monaco.

In the north of Britain temperatures are expected to reach up to 25C.

Mark Wilson, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told the Independent: “It will be a week of two halves. The first half will be very unsettled. There are likely to be spells of rain and it will be pretty windy and quite cool for start of June.

“But Wednesday is the transition day. Pressure will build across the country and the weather will turn drier and sunnier.

“Temperature wise, it will be significantly warmer than in recent weeks. Parts of the south and the Midlands will see temperatures in the mid to high twenties.

“It will be a marked change from cool to warmer weather across the UK,” he added.

The forecast comes as concerns have been raised that rising temperatures in Britain and extreme summer temperatures will cause the deaths of up to 1,700 more people, on top of the 2,000 who already die from heat-related illnesses.

Public Health England published the report, which warned the country was unprepared to deal with heat waves. In particular hospitals and homes treating the young, elderly and sick will be unlikely to cope with extreme temperatures.