Britain hots up as Olympics gets closer

By Laura Donnelly

After months of bad weather, conditions began to improve in time for the summer holidays for millions of school children, resulting in families flocking to coastal resorts.

Tourists and athletes arriving at Heathrow were being welcomed with the warmest weather in the UK - a pleasant 73 F (23C) on Saturday afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to keep rising over the next few days - at least in most parts of central, eastern and southern England - reaching up to 86 F (30C) in London by Wednesday.

However, more cloud is expected from Thursday, with warnings of showers due to move north from France as the weekend approaches.

Forecasters said they remained optimistic that the opening ceremony on Friday night, would escape the rain.

Stephen Davenport, a senior forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, said: "We cannot be completely confident because there will be a slight shower risk moving into next weekend, but at the moment there is a much greater probability of the opening ceremony being dry than wet," he added.

The predictions suggest the weather for the start of the Games is unlikely to match that the last time London hosted the event, in 1948.

The Games opened 64 years ago to virtually unbroken sunshine and temperatures of 91F (32.8C) as the UK basked in a week-long heat wave.

The improved weather for the next few days follows one of the country's coldest, wettest and dullest summer periods ever.

Widespread flooding brought chaos in some areas, with the torrential rain blamed on the jet stream settling unusually far south.

Some Britons are not taking any chances, however, with around two million expected to head abroad at the start of the school holidays this weekend.

As visitors from around the world fly into London for the Games, around 482,000 passengers will leave from Heathrow, 275,000 from Gatwick, 132,500 from Stansted and 70,000 from Luton on Saturday and Sunday. Telegraph