A heat health alert for the South East has been upgraded from yellow to amber amid spiking temperatures.

The warning, which is understood to cover the whole of Kent, will take effect for five days beginning at noon today (Tuesday, September 5).

A statement from the East Kent Hospital University Foundation Trust said that the Met Office has increased the severity of the warning for the rest of the week.

The statement, on the trust’s Emergency Planning, Resilience and Response page, said: “The met office have now increased the heat-health alert from yellow to amber which covers the South East region between 12pm today, 05/09 until 9pm 10/09.

“Stay safe while travelling and outdoors when the temperature is at its hottest.”

The warning highlights the risk that sustained high temperatures can pose to the vulnerable and very young.

In Dartford, the borough council has implemented its Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) to protect rough sleepers.

It has urged anyone whose knows of someone in that scenario to contact the local authority which will make sure emergency accommodation is provided.

While autumn may have officially started on September 1, according to the meteorological calendar, much of England is being transported back to the summer thanks to a shift in the jet stream which is dragging a hot air across most of the country.

The Met Office has confirmed that many areas in England will experience a heatwave this week, with the very best of the weather in southern and eastern areas.

Here, say forecasters, temperatures could now go above 30C between Wednesday and Thursday.

This could beat the highest temperatures of 2023 recorded so far, which were on June 10 and June 25 when the mercury rose to 32.2C.

The unseasonably hot weather coincides with a return to school for most pupils while on Thursday – which could turn out to be the hottest day of the year – thousands of Year 6 children will sit their 11 Plus test.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Mark Sidaway said: “While the highest temperatures are expected in the south, heatwave conditions are likely across much of England and Wales especially, with parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland also likely to see some unseasonably high temperatures.”

“An active tropical cyclone season in the North Atlantic is helping to amplify the pattern across the North Atlantic, and has pushed the jet stream well to the north of the UK, allowing some very warm air to be drawn north. It’s a marked contrast to the much of meteorological summer, when the UK was on the northern side of the jet stream with cooler air and more unsettled weather.”

Alongside very high daytime temperatures it is also expected to be ‘uncomfortably warm’ overnight, says the Met Office, where night time temperatures could hover above 20C.