A hot weather warning has been issued for the south east as parts of the county are predicted to be hotter than Marbella, Ibiza and Tenerife.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has upgraded an alert for hot weather and is urging people to check in on vulnerable and elderly friends or relatives as temperatures soar across Kent.

Hot weather is set to arrive in the coming days as a “plume of warm air” moves in from the south, with temperatures likely to hit 28C.

However, despite how tempting it might be, people are being urged by the Environment Agency not to swim in the sea at one Kent beach during this weekend’s heatwave.

The Environment Agency says the warning for St Mary’s Bay, in Romney Marsh, is likely to stay all summer because of poor water quality.

The UKHSA initially issued yellow warnings for parts of England on Wednesday and has now raised the level to amber for the southeast of England.

It means the impact of the heat is “likely to be felt across the whole health service … and the wider population, not just the most vulnerable”.

Yellow alerts are less serious and are used to warn that there may be some disruption to services due to weather conditions.

All alerts come into force from 9am today until 9am on Monday, June 12.

A yellow alert was also issued by the Met Office on Thursday for thunderstorms across parts of Kent from 2pm until 9pm tomorrow.

The weekend’s high temperatures are expected to trigger showers, the Met Office said, some of which could be “torrential and thundery”, with more than 30-40mm potentially falling within an hour.

Rain, hail, wind and lightning are also predicted to hit some areas, although other parts of the country will see no rain at all.

Oliver Clayden, from the Met Office, said: “There could be some travel disruption over the weekend.

“After a prolonged dry spell, there is a chance of surface water flooding.

“There could be some surface water issues that could cause travel disruptions as well as the high gusts across parts of the country.

“This is going to be the warmest weekend of the year, which is to be expected as we go into summer.

“This weekend will also see hail mixed in with strong gusts of wind and rain hit parts of the country.”