A HEATWAVE looks to be on its way to North Yorkshire this summer - prompting the Government to publish a sun survival guide.

The Met Office has predicted that temperatures in July and August will be above normal this summer.

A spokesman said: "There will undoubtedly be some hot days but, at this stage, it is not possible to predict whether specific temperature thresholds will be reached."

The forecast is in line with a 12-month prediction by the British Weather Service, published in the Evening Press last December.

It predicted record-breaking temperatures for June and July, with August expected to be very warm and occasionally hot.

In an attempt to stop a repeat of the toll caused by a heatwave in 2003, when more than 2,000 people died in England and 27,000 people died across north-west Europe, the Government recommends that in the hotest of the summer weather you should:

Try to plan your day in a way that allows you to stay out of the heat

Avoid going out during the hottest part of the day (11am to 3pm)

Stay in the shade, if you must go out, but wear a hat and light loose-fitting clothes, and take plenty of water with you

Take cool showers or baths and splash yourself several times a day with cold water, particularly your face and the back of your neck

Try to eat more cold food, particularly salads and fruit, which contain water

Help older relatives or neighbours, who are much more vulnerable to heat, by checking on them, if possible every day, reminding them to drink plenty and often, and helping them to keep their house as cool as possible, by drawing curtains, opening windows at night, or using a fan if necessary.

York weather expert Mike Elliott, of Askham Bryan College, said the forecast had so far proved to be reasonably accurate, although April was predicted to be settled with a lack of seasonal showers.

In fact, that month was the wettest April ever, with 76ml of rain, 26ml of that falling in only two days.

Mr Elliott, who collects weather data from the York area to pass on to the Met Office, said: "We had 76ml of rain in April, which compared with March, with 23.6ml, is quite a difference.

"You just don't know what's going to happen. I don't trust forecasts anyway. You can expect one thing and you get the other. It just takes a change of wind direction and the temperatures change."

A spokesman from the PA Weather Centre said temperatures must reach at least 80F or 27C and be maintained over at least three consecutive days before being described as a heatwave.

He said: "The likelihood is that we are going to have a heatwave this year, based on the last 16 years when we didn't have a heatwave in July and August in just two of those years. It doesn't mean it's going to be noticeably warmer summer than average. The odds are against it being as hot as 2003."

Updated: 10:35 Friday, May 13, 2005