‘Hotter than Hawaii’: London and East Anglia expected to reach 27C on Friday

London and East Anglia are expected to experience unusually high temperatures reaching up to 27°C on Friday, marking the warmest day of the year so far. The Met Office forecasts that this brief heatwave will bring temperatures about 10°C above the average for this time of year, surpassing highs in cities such as Sydney, Buenos Aires, Tunis, and even Honolulu. The warm air is attributed to humid conditions moving north from the south, particularly affecting the southeast of England. While the southeast enjoys sunshine and warmth, cloud cover stretching from Scotland through the Pennines to the Midlands is expected to bring heavy rain to central parts of the UK. The Met Office cautions that the hot weather will not be uniform across the country, with northern and western regions likely to see cooler and wetter conditions. The bank holiday weekend is predicted to bring more changeable weather, including showers and a return to more typical temperatures for May. This brief hot spell follows an April that was generally drier and warmer than average across the UK, with all four nations recording higher mean temperatures than usual. However, the upcoming weekend will see temperatures drop back to seasonal norms, with highs in the north around 11-12°C and 15-16°C in the south, creating a noticeably cooler and fresher atmosphere compared to the current heatwave. The variability highlights the transitional nature of spring weather in the UK, with sudden warm spells interspersed with cooler, wetter periods.