The Met Office has issued a warning as it confirms London is heading into a serious heatwave.

A wave of high pressure has brought plenty of sunny and hot weather that is set to continue through to this weekend and into next week.

Parts of the UK are currently hotter than Athens in Greece, and on a par with Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Rio in Brazil.

The Met Office's heat-health watch alert is currently at level two, meaning social and healthcare services are at the ready to reduce harm from a potential heatwave.

Chief meteorologist Frank Saunders said: “Some places in England and Wales will very likely top 30 Celsius – it’s not unlikely somewhere could reach 32 Celsius.

"With almost wall-to-wall sunshine we’ll certainly be looking at conditions which many of us would call a heatwave.”

UV levels will be high or very high during this warm and sunny spell, so people should take care when outside enjoying the weather.

Deputy chief meteorologist Jason Kelly said: “With high pressure firmly in charge, the warm and dry weather is here to stay until at least the end of June and although it is still some way off, we could be looking at similar conditions continuing into the start of July.”

Yesterday saw temperatures of 29.4C making it the hottest day of the year so far.

With this heatwave firmly upon us, we highly recommend that you take care in this heat, stay hydrated and slather yourself in suncream.