Desert Storm...Britain Hotter Than The Sahara

People are urged to keep cool and carry on as a 48-hour heat furnace arrives today to make the UK hotter than the Sahara.

- Paul Jeeves

The NHS is braced for a spike in patients as experts predict temperatures could hit record highs.

London could swelter in heat of 104F (40C) tomorrow while Peterborough is expected to hit 98F (36.7C) with Milton Keynes and Norwich at 96F (35.5C).

All this will easily outshine the 95F (35C) expected in the desert city of Tamanrasset in the Sahara.

Meteorologists have given an 80 per cent chance of Britain's record of 38.7C, set in Cambridge in 2019, being topped.

The Met Office has issued the UK's first red extreme heat warning for today and tomorrow across a large part of England. The UK Health Security Agency also issued a Level 4 heat-health alert - a "national emergency".