Plenty more sunshine and gradually becoming hotter as the week goes on.

Thanks to Isabel for the photograph.

So the general picture right now sees low pressure to the north-east of Scotland today, but the Azores high is waiting to build in from the south-west, which will be the theme of the week.

Sunday starts sunny but there will be a cloudier spell for mid/late morning, perhaps a shower – say a 20% chance. Sunshine amounts then increasing again as the afternoon goes on. Warm, 23’C though breezy too. Mostly clear skies overnight, though some cloud/mist perhaps developing in places towards dawn. Down to around 13’C.

Monday will be a fair day – sunny spells to start, cloud will bubble up and likely more cloud than sunshine for a while, say mid/late morning and lunchtime, before sunshine amounts increase again later in the day. Very warm, we should get to around 25’C in a light breeze. Fairly clear skies overnight, around 14’C.

Tuesday sees more in the way of sunshine, though some high cloud will make it hazy at times, and also some fair-weather cloud around too. Very warm, 26’C should be reached. Fairly clear overnight, though some high cloud around, down to around 14’C.

By Wednesday high pressure should be over the UK, so most likely we’ll see long spells of sunshine, and temperatures around 26’C or 27’C…maybe 28’C. I wouldn’t totally rule out a spell of cloud for a portion of the day, though feels a low chance. Clear skies most likely overnight, a warmish feel, down to around 15’C.

By Thursday we just start to see high pressure migrate east a little bit – which gives the potential to tap into some of the heat over Spain/Portugal towards the weekend.

Most likely we’ll see more long spells of sunshine, some uncertainty on cloud amounts but the more likely outcome will be for it to be mostly sunny. Fairly hot, more likely around 28’C, though again a little uncertainty. Some high cloud possible overnight, down to around 16’C, give or take.

The more likely outcome for Friday would see lots more sunshine, and temperatures on the hot side again, say around 28’C being more likely, but feasibly could be anywhere between 25’C and 31’C. Also an outside chance of a heavy shower developing. Down to around 16’C overnight, so another warmish night.

The more likely outcome for Saturday and Sunday sees the hotter air arrive from the south, not certain but the more likely outcome. So more in the way of sunshine, and temperatures most likely in the low 30’s – with a small chance of the UK’s June record temperature being broken somewhere, which is currently 35.6’C.

It’s still plausible that instead the hot air doesn’t reach here, and we just stay with warmer than normal temperatures, but nothing unusual – say 25’C to 28’C, with sunshine and dry conditions still much more likely than not.

Assuming the hotter air does arrive at the weekend, then the more likely outcome for the week after would see the heat continuing for a day or two, again a chance of the June record being broken – before a thundery breakdown, and then settling down back to normal levels of warmth again. Though we need to see if the weekend heat arrives before we can really think about the week after.