County record smashed again as temperature reaches 38C
FOR the second day in a row Derby smashed the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city.
The weather station in Chaddesden recorded a reading of 38C yesterday afternoon.
The previous highest temperature was 36C on Monday, recorded at the same weather station, and prior to that the previous high was 35C in 1911.
In response to the abnormal period of intense heat, which was covered by an unprecedented “red” Met Office heat warning, many schools around the county announced full or partial closures over concerns for children’s safety.
Schools were not the only places being closed by the heat, as Peak District bosses announced the forced closure of many beauty spots in the national park.
People were banned from accessing areas of the Peak District due to fears wildfires could break out in the heatwave, with park bosses saying the risk of fire had hit a “critical level unseen for many years” amid the extreme temperatures.
Rail bosses in the East Midlands warned that passengers would not be able to travel for significant parts of the day, with customers being “strongly urged” not to travel by train.
East Midlands Railway was running an extremely limited service.
The firm said all trains on the Intercity route would run from Sheffield/Nottingham to Leicester only in both directions for the duration of the day. It said no services were running in or out of London St Pancras.
On its website EMR said: “As the track is typically 20 degrees warmer than the air above, this extreme heat can cause the track to buckle and bend which poses a serious safety risk to our Intercity trains which travel at speeds between 100 and 125 miles per hour.
“As a result and to keep everyone safe, a speed limit of just 60 miles per hour will be in place between Sheffield, Nottingham and Bedford. Speeds will be limited further to just 20 miles per hour between Bedford and London.”
The train company confirmed that tickets would be valid for today.
Traffic was also stopped on the M1 in Derbyshire in the morning due to a fire.
Motorists travelling on the southbound carriageway near junction 29 for Chesterfield were at a standstill at around 11.30am.
Firefighters from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service were at the scene as a fire broke out on the verge alongside the carriageway.
Across England multiple fires broke out and authorities in London even declared a major incident. In Derbyshire, 999 operators reported a huge spike in the number of calls they were receiving.
Residents in Derby were yesterday told their brown bins would not be emptied by the council due to the extreme heat.
Those whose brown bins have not been emptied should also not expect them to be emptied this week. The city council has advised that residents will now have to wait until the “next cycle”.
In a tweet yesterday, afternoon, Derby City Council also said they would plan to have “extra resources” in place for when the bins are due to be emptied next.
The Tesco Express in Nottingham
Road, Chaddesden, was forced to remove all the food from its fridges after the temperature in the units increased by too much.
The rise meant that it was no longer safe to store food there and no chilled goods were on sale at the shop.
The supermarket blamed a rise in temperature in the fridges for the problem, adding that it was no longer safe for them to store the food in the units. They did not say when the problem would be fixed.
But temperatures are expected to be significantly lower today, with a mostly cloudy day. From 7am temperatures will climb from 18C up to highs of 24C at around 3pm. There is also a small chance of rain in the early part of the day.
Tomorrow, forecasters expect much of the same with highs of 23C. Friday is likely to bring rain, although Saturday will bring top temperatures of 26C and some sunny spells. Unfortunately the weekend will end with scattered showers – but the mercury will top out at 29C.
Nine of the UK’s 12 hottest days on record since 1884 have occurred within the last two decades. Yesterday’s provisional record high at Heathrow Airport of 40.2C means that four of the top five hottest days have taken place between 2019 and 2022.
Only one of top 12 hottest days took place before 1990.
Met Office figures show that spikes in the UK’s daily maximum temperature are becoming both more frequent and more recent.
A similar trend is evident in figures showing the UK’s annual average maximum temperature.
Seven of the top 10 annual average maximum temperatures since 1884 have occurred since the start of this century, with 2020 ranking in fourth place, and 2018 seventh.
The year 2014 currently holds the record for the highest average maximum temperature, while 1976, often recalled for its long summer heatwave, ranks 42nd.