The red weather warning issued by the Met Office for extreme heat has been extended as temperatures look set to soar over the coming hours.

The alert was previously due to expire at 9pm tomorrow night (Thursday), however the Met Office has now extended the timeframe within which it expects the radical temperatures to stay for.

Now, the alert will be in force until 11.59pm on Thursday night, extending the period by just under three hours.

“The highlighted area now looks increasingly likely to see a two to three day period where maximum temperatures in the shade exceed 37 Celsius, perhaps rising to 38 to 40 Celsius in some places,” a spokesperson for the forecaster said.

“The heat will be accompanied by high humidity, exacerbating the potential for discomfort and health impacts, with very warm and humid night times also reducing the ability for people to recover overnight.”

“Significant disruption to daily life is likely and the public should take every effort to make precautions and adapt their daily routines where possible to cope with these levels of heat, which up to now have been extremely rare for the UK.”