For the first time in the history of England, high temperatures up to 104 F are expected. The peak temperature is as early as Monday or Tuesday. The worst heat will hit the heavily populated A1 corridor, including London, Birmingham, and Manchester.
Continental Europe will not get off as easily; the extremely deadly temperatures will continue for twenty days, long-duration heatwave, meteorologists warn. Hot temperatures have hammered Iberia and France for weeks; this wave will expand across Europe. Agriculture, livestock, and wildlife will all be in danger.
In Germany, the Rhine river is drying up in crucial areas. This will drive up costs even higher than they are now. The winter coal shipments to power plants may not occur as a result. Trucks will instead likely be used to ship coal.
The severity of the impending heat could rival the 2003 heat wave when over 30,000 people died, both directly and indirectly, due to the heat, Roys said. He added that this could be one of the worst heat waves in Europe since 1757.
The source of the exceptionally warm air is Africa's Sahara Desert with heat projected to expand farther north and east each day, reaching Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom by the weekend. "July all-time records are at risk of being approached, tied or even broken across Ireland and the United Kingdom," Roys said. "This includes individual cities such as Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester and York."
England's summers are generally cool; the 50's, the '60s, and '70s are typical. Air conditioning units were not considered necessary as a result.
Houses are traditionally built of stone to keep the home warm, not cool.
Stone houses are known for staying warm, even in the winter. The stone is an excellent insulator and it’s also very dense which helps to keep cold drafts out of your home.
“The stone is an excellent insulator and it’s also very dense which helps to keep cold drafts out of your home.”
The UK government has issued the first ever national emergency red alert for heat ahead of expected record temperatures on Monday and Tuesday with the hottest areas set to be in central and eastern England.
The UK Health Security Agency has increased the “heat-health warning” alert for England to level 4 - the highest possible for the first two days of next week when the Met Office has forecast 40C for the first time.
The red alert, issued at 10.29am on Friday on the Met Office website, explains the level means a “national emergency”. It says it is “reached when a heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside the health and social care system. At this level, illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups.”
The Red Extreme heat national severe weather warning will cover Monday and Tuesday (18th and 19th July) for parts of central, northern, eastern and southeastern England. An Amber Extreme heat warning, has been in place for much of England and Wales for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (17th – 19thJuly) since earlier this week. Today the amber areas are also being extended to cover Cornwall, west Wales and parts of southern Scotland.
The high pressure near the southern half of the UK, which has been responsible for this week’s warm weather, continues to dominate bringing largely dry and clear weather for most. However, during the weekend, a developing southerly flow will allow very high temperatures currently building over the continent to start to spread northwards into the UK. Further north, eastern areas of Scotland could see temperatures in in the high 20°C in a few places, well above their average for the time of year.
This is the first time we have forecast 40°C in the UK. The current record high temperature in the UK is 38.7°C, which was reached at Cambridge Botanic Garden on 25 July in 2019.
Weather forecast models are run numerous times to help us quantify the likelihood of a particular event occurring and estimate the uncertainty which is always present in weather forecasting to some degree. Some models are now producing a 50% chance of maximum temperatures in excess of 40°C in isolated parts of the UK for the start of next week. Mid, to high, 30s Celsius will be seen more widely with an 80% chance we will exceed the current record.
This interview with a BBC meteorologist has to be seen to be believed. Our deadly media at work.
Stunning! The interview reminds me of Don't Look Up.