Northern Ireland heatwave to give way to thunder storms

However, Saturday should be another day of unbroken sunshine and temperatures as high as 29C, rounding off a scorcher of a week when the mercury hit 26C or higher most days.

And it was more of the same on Friday with highs of up to 28C right across the Province.

The Met Office has said that “hit-and-miss thunderstorms” will develop from mid-day tomorrow, with the warning remaining in place until Monday night.

Although not everywhere will be impacted, affected areas could experience up to 50mm or rain in just a few hours.

“There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds,” forecasters said.

The Met Office added: “Spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures

“There is a slight chance that power cuts could occur and other services to some homes and businesses could be lost.”

South of the border, the Republic’s highest ever temperature in August was provisionally recorded at 31.7C in Co Carlow on Friday.

The extreme temperatures have resulted in Irish Water urging people to conserve water, and saying there has been “a steady increase in the number of supplies that are being impacted by drought conditions”.

Meanwhile, a climate scientist from Ulster University, Professor Paul Dunlop, has warned that this week’s high temperatures fit with the pattern of predicted climate change that many experts have been warning of for decades.

“This is the future for our part of the world – hotter weather, more extreme temperatures, drier climate,” Prof Dunlop told the BBC.