FURNACE FRIDAY!
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any hotter, brace yourself for ...
BAKED Britain was last night warned to get ready for a record-breaking ‘Furnace Friday’.
As the heatwave tightens its grip, forecasters expect temperatures of 35C (95F) today and 37C tomorrow.
The all-time high of 38.5C, which was recorded in Faversham, Kent, in 2003, could even be eclipsed.
Storms will then bring torrential rain and flooding before the heatwave resumes next week. It is set to last until the end of August in southern and eastern England.
‘There is nothing in the longer term to suggest a dramatic change,’ said Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge last night.
As MPs issued an alert over melting motorways and 7,000 heat-related deaths a year:
Asthma patients and the elderly were urged to limit time outdoors;
One English village has reported no rainfall in 50 days;
A primary school asked pupils to walk around their playing field five times in blistering heat to ‘show solidarity with refugees’;
London Underground’s Central Line hit 40C – but passengers were told there will be no air conditioning until 2030.
Mr Madge said record temperatures for July were expected in parts of London and the South East tomorrow and other areas could be in the high 20s to low 30s Celsius.
Thunderstorms could break out between 2pm and midnight tomorrow from the Home Counties all the way to the Scottish border. With
more than an inch of rain predicted to fall in an hour, flooding and treacherous driving conditions are expected.
areas of low pressure are set to bring cloud and rain over the weekend, reducing temperatures to the low to mid 20s Celsius before high pressure brings back the heat next week. The last day of widespread rainfall for East anglia and the south East was May 29.
The Met office’s forecast for the end of July and throughout august is for ‘a good deal of fine weather’. The highest temperature this year is 33.3C (91.9F) at santon downham in suffolk on Monday.
Mayor of London sadiq Khan triggered an air pollution alert for today – advising the vulnerable to limit outdoor activity.
Following health warnings about keeping cool – the latest issued by the World health organisation yesterday – members of the Queen’s Guard have been allowed to retreat into their sentry boxes ‘ at their own discretion’.
network Rail track workers have started an online petition calling on bosses to let them wear shorts. Mark Treadwell, who started the petition, said the move would reduce ‘dehydration and related accidents’.
a leading surgeon yesterday advised people to drink six pints of water a day. Bhaskar somani, a consultant urologist at university hospital southampton, spoke in relation to a study of 162 kidney stone patients – where poor hydration was a key risk factor.
he said attitudes towards water consumption ‘remained poor’ even among those at higher risk of health problems.
Mr somani added: ‘We should take this opportunity to remind people that consumption of three litres of water a day is a small price to pay to help maintain and improve your health, particularly during heatwave spells such as the one we are in right now.’
Members of the public were urged to avoid ‘careless and reckless’ behaviour as fire crews deal with a soaring number of blazes. The south Yorkshire brigade said it had dealt with three times the normal number of grass fires this summer. heatwave-related rail delays continued, with speed restrictions introduced to prevent tracks buckling between London and oxford. Crops are ‘parched to the bone’ and sheep and cows being given feed intended for winter because grass has stopped growing, a national Farmers’ union leader said. Vegetable farmers have also been badly hit and carrots may need to be imported for Christmas dinner, it was claimed. Giles smith, the nFu’s deputy president, told the BBC: ‘spring crops that farmers sowed in april barely know what rain is.’ There are also fears that straw prices could reach three or four times last year’s levels. But the wine industry is hoping for a vintage year. one producer described the summer as the ‘best he had ever known’. and English apples and Pears, a trade body, is predicting the tastiest crop for a generation. a survey of nearly 5,000 people by insurers Policy Expert found 53 per cent planned to make the most of the heatwave with a staycation.
hoteliers in the spanish resort of Benidorm report that the number of British tourists is 8 per cent down on last year.
not everywhere has been feeling the heat. newquay in Cornwall was around 22C (71F) yesterday and will fall to just 19C (66F) on saturday.
The suffolk village of Barrow is now officially the driest place in the country. not a single drop of rain has fallen since June 5, making yesterday the 50th bone dry day in a row. Considerable savings had been made on cutting the village green and other communal areas.
Travellers on the Central Line complained of ‘inhuman conditions’ and compared using the service to ‘commuting in a volcano’.
health secretary Matt hancock was yesterday challenged to set out the measures he was taking to make sure the nhs can cope with the heatwave.
Jon ashworth, his Labour shadow, said in a letter: ‘It is clear that the traditional lull in nhs activity during the quieter summer months is a thing of the past. hospitals now face year-round pressures.’