As strange as it may sound in September but the UK is in the middle of a mini heatwave. We’re use to turbulent summers here in the UK but when September rolls around we assume our few days of sunshine are passed.

For towns like Ayr that are by the sea warm weather can bring in much needed business.

I spoke to a number of people working in ice cream and concession huts by the beach who after a particularly bad summer are happy to see this extra bit of sun.

One of them Nicole said: ” Last year was best summers we had and with this year the weathers not been that great so it’s nice to get an extra bit of summer. It’s good for business.”

Hopes are that as the weekend continues and the sun stays that business will continue to look up. Morag an Ice Cream vendor is hopefully saying: “It just depends, A lot of people go away for the weekend because it is a holiday weekend.”

Many of these business are prepared to bring in extra staff if necessary.

For full interview click here: https://soundcloud.com/user-731582054/ayr-heatwave-mixdown

I also spoke to Anne Bolton a pharmacist about what people need to do to protect themselves as things get warmer. She said: “I would cover up especially if you’re older and used the recommended factor 50.”

She added: “Some people who are own certain medication it can make the skin sensitive to sunlight so they should keep covered up for that.”

Credit to Alex Docherty

So what is causing this sudden temperature increase and just how hot is supposed to get?  The Mercury is said to be increasing 8 degrees over the average in certain parts of the UK.

Emma Smith, a Met Office meteorologist, explains: “As we go into tomorrow afternoon and evening, the temperature is starting to get a bit warmer.

“In eastern areas, we are likely to see 26C (78.8F) as a maximum temperature – this time of year we should have a maximum of 18C (64.4F) or 19C (66.2F) in London.”

The met office is also reporting that despite the warm weather strong winds across western Scotland, parts of Wales and along the coast of Northern Ireland.

It doesn’t look good after this weekend with reported hurricane Humberto set to sweep its way across the UK next week and bring this heatwave to an abrupt end. How it will affect man of the local business in Ayr is still unclear.

Emma spoke on Humberto saying: “Hurricane Humberto is moving towards us and becoming very quickly downgraded so it’s not going to be a hurricane by the time it gets to us, but it will bring with it wet and windy weather.”

She added: “It will be quite unstable all next week with low pressure coming towards us through the jet stream.

“Most of the rain will be in the North West and there’s a risk of gales, so it will be quite an unsettled end to the month.”