Royal Ascot announces change to going with temperatures set to soar as ‘tropical heat dome’ melts Britain

ASCOT have confirmed a going change ahead of the first day of racing at the Royal festival.

Temperatures are set to soar this week with a ‘tropical heat dome’ signalling the true start of summer.

AlamyPunters, jockeys and horses will soak up the summer sun at Royal Ascot this week – with temperatures set to hit 30C by the weekend amid a ‘tropical heat dome’[/caption]

The Berkshire track missed most of last weekend’s thunderstorms and grounds workers have been busy watering the track in the meantime.

With a heatwave of temperatures around 30C set to come into play it doesn’t look like any rain will fall this week.

And, as of Monday morning, that caused the ground to change from good, good to firm in places, to officially good to firm, good in places.

The first of five day’s top class racing kicks off at 2.30pm tomorrow with a blockbuster Queen Anne over a mile.

And by then it is expected the ground will be good to firm all over.

Punters flocking to the track can expect to sip a Pimm’s or two under some dazzling sunsets, with the mercury going from a max of 26C on Tuesday to 29C by Friday.

But it could push above the 30C barrier by Saturday, with much of the UK lined up for the hottest weather of the year so far.

The Met Office forecast for Tuesday predicts ‘another fine and very warm day, with plenty of sunshine and light winds’.

And for the rest of the week the forecast reads: “Fine and increasingly hot through this period, with temperatures climbing by both day and night while winds remain light.”

Hot air from Portugal – the Azores High – will sweep over Britain, sending the mercury soaring.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “High pressure is building across the south of the UK and shifting the jet stream further north of the UK – that sets the scene for the rest of the week.”