UK weather: Met Office says hurricane could send temperatures soaring across Britain
Storm Debby made landfall
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Temperatures could reach the mid-30s in the UK as a result of Storm Debby battering the US.
The tropical storm has already inundated coastal Georgia and South Carolina with a deluge of rain on Tuesday that could bring "catastrophic flooding" to Charleston, Savannah and other cities in the southeastern United States.
Debby made landfall as a Category One hurricane in the Big Bend region of Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday morning. The storm has been blamed for five deaths in Florida and one near Valdosta, Georgia.
The Met Office said that while the storm itself will not impact the UK, the influence of Debby will play a role in the medium range forecast across the Atlantic.
Storm Debby made landfall
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Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Nick Silkstone said: "Debby in North America will help to strengthen and veer the direction of the jet stream and this means this ribbon of air is likely to shift further to the south.
"This southwards dip in the jet stream will likely be located across the mid-Atlantic this weekend and early next week, allowing southwesterly flow across the UK.
"During this time a hot and perhaps very hot airmass could develop and be advected into the southeast of the UK.
"On balance it now looks likely that temperatures will reach 30C, with around a 30% chance that temperatures could reach the mid-30s Celsius early next week. Debby plays a role in developing this forecast hot spell."
Temperatures are set to rise this weekend
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The Met Office has said that the northern extent of the hot airmass will most likely be across central and northern parts of the UK.
This hot air mass from across the Atlantic: "will likely see periods of heavy rainfall moving northeast, and within the hot airmass there is a chance of some severe thunderstorms breaking out".
As the dip in the jet stream likely continues east towards the middle of next week, the UK could be left on the colder side, eventually feeling more changeable with cooler conditions later on.
It could also be "unseasonably windy" in some west and northwestern areas.
A deck partially flooded as Hurricane Debby affects the gulf coast in Keyton Beach, Florida
Reuters
Over in the US, Storm Debby featured 40-mile-per-hour winds as it chugged along slowly at 5mph to the northeast, with its centre located about 50 miles (80 km) east of Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday night.
Heavy rainfall could cause flooding in parts of the mid-Atlantic through Sunday.
The National Weather Service said more than eight inches (20 cm) of rain have already fallen on Savannah and Valdosta, Georgia.