RECORD BAKER
Surf’s up as Brits head for hottest day ever
BRITAIN is braced for its hottest ever day tomorrow – dubbed “furnace fryday”.
The Met Office has warned temperatures could break the record of 38.5C or 101.3F.
Stores are running out of sun cream and shops are hiking up the price of electric fans as the mercury could hit 101.5F.
Sweltering conditions are set to continue with a minimum of 37C.
Experts also predict we will have monster heatwaves every other year by the 2040s. And an MPs’ committee claims that heat-related deaths will treble by 2050.
The hottest temperature ever recorded was 38.5C set in Faversham, Kent, on August 10, 2003. Paul Gundersen, Chief Meteorologist for the Met Office, said: “It’s possible that we could break the all-time UK record if conditions all come together.”
But parts of Britain could experience thunderstorms.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for the northeast and said flooding “could happen” with 30mm expected to fall in just an hour.
It was so hot yesterday that the Indian cricket team cut short its tour match against Essex at Chelmsford due to concerns over the heat. And the body of swimmer Maciej Dymowski, 23, was recovered from a pond infected with algae in Scunthorpe, North Lincs.
Pharmacy giant Superdrug claims sales of their sun cream have shot up by 112%.
Firms are also cashing in with the cost of electric fans rising by 50% and the price of sunglasses increasing by 49%. Sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley warned that Brits who are struggling to get shut-eye face being moody, miserable and having family rows. They are also putting themselves at a greater risk of road accidents due to sleep deprivation.
His tips to beat the heat at night include keeping curtains closed during the day, wearing cotton PJs and buying a fan. He said: “We haven’t seen a heatwave like this for some time. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.”
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