The fierce heat and burning sun of the hottest summer on record already feels like a distant memory.

But large swathes of the UK are set to have, perhaps, one final blast of something warm and sunny next week before autumn fully sets in.

With more hot weather on the way this September, here’s what to expect for the weeks ahead.

When will it start getting warmer?

High pressure will start to build from the southwest over the weekend, and will gradually pull in warm air from the south-southwest as we move into next week.

Warm air from Europe, where temperatures are still reaching into the 30’s, will flood in from the south and help to boost temperatures across England and Wales.

It could be up to 10 degrees above the seasonal average.

How warm will it get?

Temperatures across parts of England and Wales could reach into the mid to high twenties.

For some, this is a 10 degree temperature boost from midweek!

How long will it last?

At this early stage, it is expected to become increasingly settled and dry with warm sunny spells from the south towards the end of the weekend.

Temperatures are currently expected to peak midweek in the southeast. There are some signs that this lovely weather could continue for the whole week – and potentially, conditions could remain settled for many until the end of the month.

Will it be warm for everyone?

Everyone will get a boost in temperatures – with the warmest weather in the South.

However, the influence of high pressure will not quite reach Northern Ireland and Scotland, where rain-bearing frontal systems will continue to move in and largely pull temperatures much closer to the seasonal average.

How unusual is this?

Not at all – much like March, September is a transitional month where the weather seems to have a foot in both seasons.

The further we move into autumn, the more Europe loses its summer heat and the less frequently we are likely to get these blasts of warm air to boost our temperatures.

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Spiritual or science: When does autumn officially start?

The hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK in September was 35.6C, and the coldest was −6.7C: That gives us a temperature range of 42.3C within the same month.

So although the mid to high twenties is definitely warm, we are some way off record breaking weather.

Is this called an Indian Summer?

Technically, no, the term Indian Summer isn’t actually a formal meteorological term.

It really started as a colloquialism generally used to describe unseasonably warm weather in the autumn particularly after a cooler spell.

However, more recently, the Met Office has defined it more tightly as a spell of unseasonably warm weather after we’ve had some overnight frosts – and we haven’t had any of those so far this season.

Call it what you like – but don’t pack your summer gear away just yet.

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