And where do most people in the UK live? Not in Scotland or Northern Ireland, that's for sure - and even then in Scotland it's mostly the barely inhabited areas. 

As for the Republic of Ireland - admittedly it's more noteworthy there because 30C temperatures are forecast to be significantly more widespread. 

Surely a heatwave is a heatwave, irrespective of how densely populated the area is? And there is an official level 2 warning out for England now.

Personally, I love following heatwaves, even if they're not in my immediate area - which is the case at the moment. 

Can't be a heatwave. There's a yellow warning out from the MetO for ice next week.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings#?date=2018-06-28

The thread title is perfectly appropriate, some parts of the UK are experiencing a genuine heatwave, other parts are experiencing a lengthy period of warm temperatures. 

Either way this is a notable spell of weather for a large section of the UK population. The difference this time is the focus of the hottest conditions is not placed on the populated centres of the south and east - this could well change. 

Yes, but 'UK and Ireland heatwave' implies that it's a nationwide thing when it isn't, and a heatwave affecting areas where lots of people live will obviously garner more attention. If the heatwaves of 1995 and 1976 had only affected parts of Scotland and Ireland then I doubt they'd be remembered very much at all.

The focus of the heat needs to shift south and east for me to consider it a genuine heatwave. The fact that we haven't reached 30C and probably won't is testimony to how unremarkable this spell of weather is temperature-wise. Even last June exceeded 30C here.

I think you're being rather pedantic...

May and June have been pretty phenomenal, my daily timelapses have been basically blue skies for the period. The number of times I have caught the setting sun has been remarkable. It has also been exceptionally dry, there was a Sunday afternoon, the day of the Soccer Aid match at Old Trafford, it was raining but here just a few drops. 

Manchester Summer indices

1976 301
1995 298
1983 278
1955 277
1911 274
1984 271
1959 269
1975 268
1949 267
1989 262
2013 260 
1947 255
1933 251
1901 249
1921 249
2003 247
1925 246
2006 246
1996 245
1935 243 
2014 242
1994 240
1934 238
1940 238
1941 236
1970 235
1969 234
1973 234
1999 234
1997 232
1990 229
1917 228
1926 227

2018 225 up to 27th June

2005 224
1905 223
1932 223
1945 223
1967 223
1977 223
1914 222
1992 222
1908 220

Well the joe public would probably disagree to aome extent down here.. By no stretch of over exaggeration is 27C in the summer hot.. very warm yeah sure but not hot.

25C is just a warm summer day..  

Thing is the average Joe public is a little stupid when it comes to the weather. They hear or read a heatwave is coming and all of a sudden the 26C they are experiencing is 'hot' or 'unbearable' or something along the lines, and yet if there was no mention of heatwave and 26C was experienced they would think of it as a nice warm summer day. 

The same thing happens in winter.

It meets the north west requirements for a heat wave. Don't really care if it doesn't in other places 😛 . I see enough south east weather only threads! Just had a pub lunch outside on yellow grass with work. Cloudless beautiful hot summer's day :)

BBC NI weather said that the all time highest temp (30.8c) is under threat up there today. 

It's great for you guys in the north west. Seen some amazing reports.

Have I really just spent the last page reading pedantry about the thread title? Takes me back to the bad old days on here!

Technical heatwave or not it's quite remarkable. As has been said seeing so little cloud day in day out, and seeing quiet a few days more of it according to just about all the mainstream forecasts is worthy of note. 

I've trips to Manchester and London planned over the next few days, and unusually wherever I go I'll be 'taking the weather with me'. These events happen country wide so rarely.

Perfect day here!

But, and there always is a but, how long before, like with extreme winter weather, it becomes a concern?

I remember 2003 becoming a bit of a worry with melting roads ,buckled rails and old folk keeling over......

Well in any case, the title includes 'warmwave' - not sure if that was only added recently or if I just overlooked it but warmwave is definitely more appropriate for the majority of the country.

And as nice as the weather is, I might just be a tad annoyed that we are missing out on all the proper heat, and especially since the places getting heat are the places you'd expect to be cold and cloudy. It's like if London got 20 inches of snow and we got 5 inches - it's just wrong and shouldn't happen. 

I'm just hoping that we get a nice hot plume at some point - you know, the kind where it's 30C here but 18C in Scotland. 

25C with unbroken sunshine and a light breeze is absolutely perfect for me. Any more and it's like me having ten pints instead of six. I probably won't taste the extra drinks and the extra alcohol would make me really ill. You can have too much of something.

As for five inches of snow in winter? If I got that I wouldn't care what the SE got. That would make it a record snowfall since the cold winters at the turn of the decade which were in themselves the first for over a decade.

I live in the north of England. On average it will be cooler cloudier and wetter than down south. I accept that unlike, say, a certain NE poster who thinks that Aberdeen doesn't stick out into a pretty frigid ocean with all the attendant problems that can cause meteorologically.

32.6c Porthmadog incredible spell of weather for that part of the world

It's always been heatwave /warmwave that's why I couldn't understand your complaints,  any way no worries. The heat in the NW is truly remarkable and definitely worthy of the title heatwave.