SWELTERING temperatures will only fall slightly despite the unprecedented extreme heat warning for parts of the UK coming to an end.

Sun worshippers do not need to fret that they have basked in their final rays as the mercury will still be climbing towards 30C as the heatwave continues.

England reached its hottest temperature of the year on Tuesday when 32.2C was recorded at Heathrow Airport in west London, and on Thursday a sizzling 31.1C high was recorded in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

Here in North Wales, motorists tweeted pictures of the temperature in their cars reaching 29C.

Wales basked in its highest temperature of the year so far on Thursday with 31.2C in Gogerddan – and it will remain hot on Friday with the mercury climbing to as high as 29C.

Temperatures are expected to peak at 25C today in North Wales and Cheshire West.

It's forecast to get a little cooler over the weekend and into next week, but temperatures up to 22C are likely.

Speaking about the extreme heat warning, Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “It’s an amber warning so it’s quite an extreme one, and it’s for extreme heat.

“So whilst temperatures aren’t plummeting tomorrow, they are still going to be on the high side, it’s less likely to cause significant impacts like we’ve seen over the past couple of days.”

The heat warning remains in place in Northern Ireland, and speaking on Thursday night, Mr Burkill said: “Temperatures there could be even higher than today.

“So for a few days we’ve had their highest ever temperature. It was beaten yesterday, it was beaten again today, and it could well be beaten again tomorrow.

“So I think it could be four days within a week where they’ve recorded their highest ever temperature.”

There are currently yellow warnings for rain in place for much of England and Wales for over the weekend, but there is a chance these may be changed to thunderstorm warnings.

The warning for heavy rain and thundery showers covers all of south and mid Wales, coming as far north as Barmouth, Llangollen and Wrexham.

It also covers much of Cheshire, including Whitchurch and Nantwich, as well as the outskirts of Chester but not the city centre itself.