The UK is set to experience a fifth heatwave, with new yellow heat health alerts in place and temperatures forecast to reach 36°C. The alerts, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), run from 9am on Saturday to 9pm on Tuesday and warn that the hot weather is likely to affect the wellbeing of the population.
Temperature forecast
The Met Office said temperatures will climb through the weekend as heatwave conditions return, with a high of 36°C expected in parts of East Anglia and south-east England by Thursday. The highest temperature of the year so far was 38°C recorded at Lingwood in Norfolk on June 28.
There have been 33 days this year when temperatures have exceeded 30°C somewhere in the UK, and the record of 34 days – set in 1995 – is likely to be broken next week. Forecasters said the weekend will see a north-south split in the weather, with Scotland and Northern Ireland likely to see spells of heavy rain, while England and Wales will remain largely dry, sunny and increasingly warm.
Impact and warnings
Temperatures could reach 30°C on Saturday, before climbing into the low 30s in southern and south-east England on Sunday. Highs of up to 30°C are possible across parts of England and Wales on Tuesday, increasing to 32°C to 34°C on Wednesday, with the highest temperatures currently expected on Thursday.
The UKHSA has issued yellow heat health alerts for the East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London. The National Trust is asking people to sign a petition calling on the Government to make tackling climate change a national mission.
Wildfires and drought
Several wildfires have broken out in the UK over recent weeks, including large blazes at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, Headon Warren on the Isle of Wight, Llanwonno in the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales, and the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Fires are likely to become exceptionally severe on Sunday for almost all of the east and south-east of England, according to the Fire Severity Index, whose highest ranking is 'exceptional'.
Reservoir storage in England has dropped to 69%, down from 72% a week ago and nearly 12 percentage points below the long-term average for the time of year, the Environment Agency said on Friday. Five reservoirs are now classed as having 'exceptionally low' levels: Blagdon in Somerset (54% full), Clywedog in Powys (62%), the Dove group in Derbyshire (74%), Hanningfield in Essex (60%), and Wimbleball in Somerset (50%).
Last month was the driest July for England and Wales since records began in 1836, according to provisional figures from the Met Office. Nineteen counties across England recorded effectively no rainfall – 1mm or less – across the whole of the month.
