Get the charcoal and beach towels out: it’s a scorcher
AS ANY sentient Briton knows, only fools would dare make any cast-iron predictions pertaining to the weather. It is for good reason that meteorologists employ the disclaimer “of course, all this could change…” as frequently as possible. After all, normally it does.
However, this weekend a rare consensus has been reached. We’re on for a hot one, it seems, a very hot one, and almost everywhere too.
Besides a cruel and stubborn band of rain squatting above the north-west of Scotland (those views come at a price), a band of Iberian warm air will see the rest of Britain gently liquefy in temperatures straddling 86F (30C), more than double last June’s average and likely producing the two hottest days of 2017 so far.
With that blazing sun will come another set of conditions we can be even more certain about, namely, the nation’s reaction. Supermarkets will sell out of charcoal before midday; beaches and pub gardens will fill up; the neighbours will deem it acceptable to wash the car without wearing a shirt; and, with national pride verging on passive aggression, newspapers will declare London hotter than a very specific, normally sun-blessed area of southern Europe. Already, Barcelona and Athens have been lined up as targets of our bragging.
Of course, that hysteria is borne of the knowledge that any heat wave in Britain could be the year’s last. This one is no different, and many outdoortypes will be hoping the sweltering conditions extend into next week, not least those of a bohemian inclination. At Stonehenge’s summer solstice festival on Tuesday, literal Sunworshipers will stay up all night to welcome the longest day, which lights at 4.43am and won’t go dark again for almost 17 hours. Then, of course, they’ll go to Glastonbury. This year, even Worthy Farm looks dry for once. But the following week, for Wimbledon and the school holidays? Well, everything looks uncertain, of course.