Southampton was basked in sunshine on Wednesday afternoon as people made the most of the warm weather.

Temperatures topped 25°C in the city, with clear skies visible throughout the day.

Many Sotonians in the city centre opted to go to Palmerston Park and could be seen taking shelter in the shade beside trees, as well as lounging on the grass.

Temperatures in the city were hotter than parts of mainland Greece, Spain, and Italy, with the warm weather set to continue going into the weekend.

The uncharacteristic April sunshine is due to a blocked weather pattern where high pressure has become established close to the UK, blocking the usual west-to-east movement of weather systems and the jet stream.

This causes dry air to linger for a longer period of time, causing an increase in the temperature.

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Thursday is set to be even hotter on the south coast, with highs of 26°C in Southampton.

Temperatures are set to peak between 1pm and 4pm in the afternoon, with the Met Office also warning of a “small chance of isolated showers.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Met Office said: “Thursday will be largely dry, sunny and very warm or locally hot on Thursday with light winds. There is the small chance of a few isolated showers, locally heavy, developing in the afternoon.”

Despite the warm weather, Met Office meteorologist Michael Silverstone said it looks “unlikely” the UK will reach a heatwave this week, meaning the UK Health Security Agency will not issue a heat-health alert.

The Met Office definition of a heatwave is three consecutive days of temperatures exceeding the “heatwave threshold,” which varies across the country.

The threshold is 25°C for most of the UK, with slightly higher numbers for the South and East and rising to 28°C in London.

Mr Silverstone added: “Based on the definition of a heatwave, it looks unlikely that we’ll reach one this week.

“If we reach 30C on Thursday, May 1, it will be the earliest date in May that the UK has seen 30°C since our records began in 1860.”