The Met Office has issued a four-day amber extreme heat warning, which means that the health of vulnerable individuals may be affected and travel may be disrupted.
The warning extends to southern and central England, as well as portions of Wales, from Thursday midnight to Sunday midnight.
Temperatures are expected to reach up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions, and Thames Water is the latest water company to announce hosepipe restriction plans.
A fourteen-year-old kid has died in a Hertfordshire lake.
Monday at approximately 17:00 BST, emergency services were dispatched to North Met Lake, located off Cadmore Lane in Cheshunt. His corpse was recovered six hours later, according to the Hertfordshire Constabulary.
The Metropolitan Police have announced that a second search is underway for a man in his early 20s who went missing in a lake in Hounslow, west London.
The amber notice is the longest given by the Met Office since the warning system was launched in 2021 and is less severe than the first-ever red warning issued in July when temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius for the first time.
While this week’s temperatures will remain below last month’s record highs, this heatwave could persist longer, according to the Met Office.
The Met Office’s alert is one of several issued to prepare the nation for the heat:
- The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a level three heat-health alert from Tuesday through Sunday for central and southern England. This “needs social and healthcare services to target high-risk groups with targeted interventions.”
- Northern England has been assigned a level two alert.
- The fire severity index of the Met Office is “very high” for the majority of England and Wales and will reach “exceptional” by the weekend for areas of England. This evaluates the potential severity of a fire if one were to start.
While the warnings remain fewer than those given during last month’s record temperatures, Dr. Agostinho Sousa of the UKHSA emphasized that vulnerable persons, such as the elderly who live alone or those with underlying health concerns, must be “prepared for coping with the hot weather.
“The most important recommendation is to stay hydrated, stay cool, and avoid their homes from overheating,” he continued.
Fazilet Hadi, from Disability Rights UK, stated that disabled individuals may experience exhaustion, difficulties controlling their body temperatures, or difficulty relocating to cooler areas of the home when exposed to excessive heat.
In the meantime, a dairy farmer in Shropshire has stated that he may have to send some of his cows to the slaughterhouse if there is no August rainfall due to a lack of grass.
According to the Met Office, England experienced its driest July since 1935, while south-east and central southern England experienced their driest July since records began in 1836.
Between the beginning of the year and August 6, the southeast experienced 144 days with an average precipitation of fewer than 0.5 millimeters. 57 of them saw no precipitation.
Thames Water’s Cathryn Ross stated that the corporation was experiencing “unprecedentedly low storage” and that this summer had “less than 65% of the projected rainfall.”
“Less than 75 percent of our storage is where we would anticipate it to be at this time.
She stated that Thames Water was preparing for hotter, drier summers by enhancing water efficiency, increasing storage capacity, and “possibly” constructing new reservoirs.
The Environment Agency reports that River Wye levels have dropped by more than 3 meters (9.8 feet) and that water temperatures are predicted to climb in the coming days.
Fire agencies have issued warnings about the possibility of wildfires and urged individuals not to burn bonfires, barbecues, fireworks, or sky lanterns.
There were additional fires on the outskirts of Ipswich, in Northamptonshire, and in the vicinity of Reading on Tuesday.
The warmth and months of dry weather have further exacerbated challenges for farmers, with a lack of grass growth and dwindling irrigation water highlighted as two major concerns.
Thames Water stated that it would announce water use limits in reaction to projections of additional hot and dry weather, with the exact timing to be determined later.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have already implemented hosepipe bans, and Kent, Sussex, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire will soon follow suit.
The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has issued a warning that river flows in central, southern, and eastern England will stay unusually low until October.
Charles Watson, the founder of River Action, urged the government to take action to prevent an “ecological emergency,” warning that if river flows slowed, the ecosystem of rivers may be destroyed and pollution levels would rise.
Christine Farnish, a former board member of the water regulator Ofwat, stated that water firms “need to get their homes in order” regarding leaks and that they have been “extremely slow” to recognize the reality of climate change.
But Water UK’s head of strategy, Stuart Colville, stated that Ofwat data indicated that companies were seeing the lowest levels of leakage ever recorded and that the industry was doing “all we can” to avoid water consumption limits.
Bats, lichen, and stately gardens have been severely impacted by the hot summer heat, according to the National Trust, whose climate change consultant described the damage as “stark.”
The River Tweed Commission has also expressed concern about the effects of low water levels and high temperatures on Atlantic salmon, sea trout, and brown trout.
Dan Rudman, the deputy chief meteorologist for the Met Office, said that temperatures will “rise day by day” throughout the week and reach a high of 35 degrees Celsius on Friday and Saturday in some regions.
Any showers would be in the far north-west of the United Kingdom and would be brief, he added, adding that the south would receive “no relief for the parched country.”
Three or more consecutive days of above-average temperatures define a heatwave. Climate change caused by humans is increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves.
Since the beginning of the industrial age, the world has already warmed by approximately 1.1C, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments worldwide implement drastic emission reductions.
According to the UN’s climate research organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we are experiencing the warmest era in the past 125,000 years.
