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According to the Met Office, by Friday afternoon many regions are also expected to pass the heatwave criteria - which means a temperature threshold is sustained for three consecutive days.

Hot and dry conditions are expected to continue with the weather on track to reach the low 30s in many areas, but it could surpass Thursday's record of 32.2C, the Met Office said.

Traditional weather forecasts are produced on some of the biggest supercomputers on the planet; the Met Office super computing contract is worth £1.2bn.

"I think we'll have traditional models running alongside AI models so that we are drawing on their combined strengths to enable hyper-localised accurate forecasts, delivered fast, when you need them," says Professor Kirstine Dale, chief AI officer at the Met Office.

A study from consultants, external, London Economics, concluded that the Met Office would bring £56bn of benefits to the UK economy over the course of a decade through providing meteorological services.