Traders and tourism businesses are gearing up for a bumper week after weather forecasters predicted a ten-day heatwave.

Temperatures could be as high as 30C in some parts of the south-east next week, including Brighton and Hove, from Saturday.

The news is a big boost for events planned for the weekend, including charity beach festival Paddle Round the Pier.

Adam Chinery, a member of the Seafront Traders’ Association and manager of the Brighton Watersports Centre, said it was important to take advantage of the weather.

“It’s fantastic to see nice weather predicted for the weekend for all the charities involved, because it affects how much money they get.

“It will be a big boost and it’s what all the businesses on the seafront need.”

Anne Martin, general manager of Palace Pier, said this type of weather helps put Brighton in a positive light.

“Good weather always brings lots of people out. It’s excellent news not only for the pier but for Brighton. It would be tremendous if we got this publicity after the bad press we’ve had recently with the bin strikes.”

Jet stream Starting this weekend, Met Office experts report that a shift in the jet stream will bring a period of warmer temperatures and clear skies.

Lindsay Mears, a spokeswoman at the Met Office, said: “The chances are the south-east may get the highest temperature or certainly one of the highest temperatures.

“We can’t say it’s definitely going to be, and obviously in Brighton you’ve got the sea breeze as well, which tends to cool temperatures down a little bit usually, but they are saying it could go up to 30C.”

Current predictions suggest this sunny spell may last into the following weekend, but Ms Mears said the Met Office was unable to report further ahead.

“I can’t say that it will last for the rest of the summer, which I know people want us to say, but we can say next week is going to be very, very nice and much warmer than average.”

Send us your heatwave photos and we will plot them on our interactive sunshine map at theargus.co.uk.

Be it on the beach, in the park, the view from work or in the back garden, email your sunny photos to peter.truman@theargus.co.uk or Tweet to @brightonargus.