THE heatwave continues as Worcestershire starts to wilt – with public health alerts issued and the ambulance service reporting a huge spike in heat-related callouts.

Today has been another scorcher, with temperatures pushing 30C in the city, and tomorrow is set to be even hotter, with highs of 31C forecast in Worcester.

Experts say Britain could be in the midst of the longest spell of hot June weather for more than 20 years.

The good weather has drawn crowds to the popular Splashpad in Gheluvelt Park, prompting Worcester City Council to extend its opening hours to 6pm this evening.

The Splashpad was due to be opened until 6pm from Saturday, July 1 but council bosses have said it will be open until the later time every day from today to allow people to capitalise on the current heatwave.

Highs of 34C are forecast in west London tomorrow, which would make it the fifth consecutive day that temperatures have topped 30C (86F) in the UK, the Met Office said.

The last time the country saw a similar run of hot June weather was in 1995.

But the heatwave is set to come to an abrupt end on Thursday – with temperatures set to drop down to around 21C and warnings of stormy showers that could bring lightning, hail and even localised flooding.

Public Health England has issued a level three amber heatwave alert – one level below a national emergency – lasting until 9am on Thursday and West Midlands Ambulance Service is urging people to take care after a surge in demand.

Crews were called out to 1,342 heat-related cases yesterday, up from 969 the previous Monday, an increase of almost 40 per cent.

Callouts to cases where patients have collapsed saw the biggest increase, almost doubling week-on-week, from 83 the previous Monday to 162 this week.

Calls to people who were unconscious or had passed out increased from 89 to 136 week-on-week, while there were 317 calls to people with breathing problems yesterday, compared to 272 the previous Monday.

The service says the heat is particularly affecting older people, babies and young children, people with heart or breathing problems and people with mobility problems.

Assistant chief ambulance officer, Michelle Brotherton, said: “We are seeing lots of cases of patients becoming dehydrated.

"There are also case of people who are simply overheating.

"Particularly over the weekend, we also saw cases of heat exhaustion and heatstroke for people who were out in the sun for many hours who had not taken precautions.

“There is no doubt many of those emergencies could have been avoided."

The fire service is urging people not to start fires outdoors, saying crews have been called to a number of incidents, including one in a field off Farmbrook Close, in Worcester, at 9.25pm yesterday evening.

A crew used water back packs and beater to put out the blaze, which covered an area of about 20 metres by 15 metres.

Malvern Hills Trust – formerly the Conservators – is urging visitors to the hills to be on the lookout for fires, while the Canal and River Trust is warning of the dangers of jumping into canals, rivers and quarries to cool down.

Two young men died within a week while swimming at Gullet Quarry, in the Malvern Hills, in the summer of 2013, while across the UK this week a teenage boy has drowned while swimming in a reservoir in Greater Manchester and a woman in her 80s died after being pulled from the sea at East Wittering beach in West Sussex.

Despite the warnings to take care, people across the county have been making the most of the weather.

Crowds soaked in the rays as they settled in to watch Worcestershire County Cricket Club's clash against Kent at New Road this afternoon, while our readers have sent in plenty of fabulous pictures of themselves splashing about in paddling pools, enjoying the great outdoors and cooling off with ice-creams.