DORSET has seen just four per cent of its expected average rainfall for July so far this month.

Just 2.2mm of rainfall has been recorded in the whole of Dorset this month, said a spokesperson for the Met Office.

Dorset would usually see an average of 54.4mm of rain in July.

The average maximum temperature recorded in Dorset so far for July has been 25.5C, which is 4.2C above what would normally be expected.

The average minimum temperature seen so far across the county is 13.8C, which is 1.9C warmer than normal.

The very warm weather looks set to continue into the summer holidays as most of the schools prepare to break-up this Friday.

Sarah Kent, meteorologist for the Met Office, said temperatures of 30C or even higher are “on the cards” for Dorset this weekend.

She said: “Saturday for Bournemouth should start dry and sunny with an outside chance of a shower in the afternoon.”

Sarah added: ““At the moment, there’s a split toward changeable weather in the north and west. South and south east should get the best of the fine, dry and very warm weather for the first part of next week.”

“Beyond that it’s most likely we see a continuation of the weather with the south and south east the most likely to see the best of the warmest weather.”

Between June 24 and July 9, somewhere in the UK saw temperatures of 28C or above for 16 days in a row.

During the summer of 1976, temperatures of 30C were recorded for 18 days running.

It was the fourth warmest June on record for Scotland and England and one of the UK’s top five warmest Junes.

Local weather forecaster WessexWeather said 0.6mm of rainfall was recorded in Sturminster Marshall in June, which is just 1.2 per cent of the monthly average.