The Met Office has issued its first ever red warning for extreme heat for Bury as temperatures set to rise to above 30 degrees.

The red alert is in place for Monday and Tuesday as the Met Office warned of a “potentially very serious situation”.

Grahame Madge, Met Office spokesman, said: “We’ve just issued a red warning for extreme heat for Monday and Tuesday which is the first such warning ever issued.

“The warning covers an area from London up to Manchester and then up to the Vale of York.

“This is potentially a very serious situation.”

Temperatures on Monday are set to rise to highs on 31C at 7pm and on Tuesday highs of 34C are expected at around 4pm.

This is the first time the Met Office has issued a red warning for exceptional heat.

Record breaking temperatures are likely early next week with some parts of the country seeing temperatures top 40C.

The step up in warning level to red is running parrel to an increase in the current Heat Health Warning to Level 4 for England by the UK Health Security Agency.

From Wednesday onwards, temperatures should cool down to more comfortable temperatures with Wednesday reaching 21C and Thursday cooling down to 19C.