Hitchin is set to bask in a late summer heatwave thanks to an 'hot air blob'.

Our town and surrounding areas are expecting nearly two weeks of wonderful sunshine due to a 700-mile wide Atlantic "hot air blob".

North Herts will enjoy sizzling temperatures of around 27C - a whopping 5C above average for this time of year as we head into the bank holiday weekend – with even sunnier weather expected for the end of the school holidays.

Hitchin is set to become hotter than many places around the Mediterranean including Rome over coming week.

Sunseekers can expect highs of up to 27C every day for the rest of the week, with the mercury peaking at 25C over the holiday weekend.

The Met Office also forecasts a sunny last week of the school holidays, with a spokesperson saying: "From Monday will be mainly fine and dry, with rather warm temperatures in the west initially and more widely later in the last week of August and into September.

"There will be increasing amounts of sunshine, with high pressure ­likely to dominate, with settled conditions."