As heatwave returns experts reveal July was warmest in seven years In the past century the month has only been warmer on five occasions, with the last one being the record-breaking July of 2006, meteorologists said. With an average of 291 hours of sunshine last month, only one July has been sunnier in the last 100 years, said Philip Eden, a weather and climate expert. Although Britons have had to resort to their umbrellas over the past few days, the hot weather will return on Thursday with highs of up to (90F) 32C in the South East, the Met Office said. If the temperature hits 32.4C, it will be the hottest August day in a decade. "But it will be fairly short lived," a Met Office spokeswoman said. On Friday it will still be quite warm, with temperatures around 81F (27C) in the South, but there will be more cloud around and the chance of some thundery showers. The picture of mixed weather looks similar over the weekend, she added. Despite the thundery end to July the two-and-a-half-week spell of sunshine and high temperatures meant that The Central England Temperature of 65F (18.4C) was 1.7C above the long-term average, and the highest in seven years. The average maximum ranged from 85F 26.9C at Heathrow to 57F (13.9C) at Fair Isle in Scotland. It was up to 3.5C above the 1981-2010 normal over most of the UK, while average minimum temperature was 0.5-1.5C above normal in all regions. The highest temperature for the month was 92F (33.5C) recorded at Heathrow and Northolt on July 22. Rainfall averaged over England and Wales was 60mm, 90% of the average for the 1981 to 2010 period.