Records keep falling as mercury rises
Hottest ever August bank holiday Monday prompts alert over Britain’s inability to deal with extreme heat
The UK yesterday sweltered its way through the hottest ever August bank holiday Monday as yet another weather record was set. Highs of 33.2C (91.8F) recorded at Heathrow surpassed a previous high of 28.2C (82.8F) set at Holbeach, Lincs, in 2017. The weather followed a recordbreaking bank holiday Sunday that saw temperatures reach 33.3C (92F) at Heathrow, making it the hottest August bank holiday weekend ever declared by the Met Office.
THE UK yesterday sweltered its way through the hottest ever August bank holiday Monday as yet another weather record was set.
Highs of 33.2C (91.8F) at Heathrow surpassed a previous high of 28.2C (82.8F) set at Holbeach, Lincs, in 2017.
The weather followed a recordbreaking bank holiday Sunday that saw temperatures reach 33.3C (92F) at Heathrow, making it the hottest August bank holiday weekend ever declared by the Met Office.
The records are just the latest of many broken this year, prompting increasing warnings about climate change.
The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 2002, according to analysis by the Met Office. The most recent year to make the top 10 coldest years on record was 1963.
The Government’s advisory committee on climate change has warned that the UK is not prepared for the increasing extremes in temperatures that are expected with global warming.
It recently called for more action to ensure homes and other buildings such as hospitals and care facilities could be comfortable and safe in higher temperatures.
Those attending events such as the Notting Hill Carnival or making their way home from the Leeds and Reading festivals were yesterday urged to drink plenty of water, use sun cream and remain in the shade where possible.
Holidaymakers flocked to beach resorts to make the most of the late summer sun, providing a boost to the tourist trade.
Visitengland said 8.6million people were expected to take UK breaks this weekend, bringing an estimated £2.1billion boost to the economy.
The figures are the highest since it launched its trip-tracker survey in 2012. Patricia Yates, the Visitengland director, said it was proving to be a “strong summer with late bookings also on the rise”.
Supermarkets were braced for a BBQ rush. The weather also prompted vets to warn dog owners about over-exercising their pets in high temperatures.
One man drowned while swimming in the River Trent yesterday in Nottingham, police confirmed. Crews rushed to the scene at 1.15pm when he got into difficulty shortly after entering the water. His body was recovered at 3.30pm.
Matthew Box, a Met Office forecaster, said the eastern corridor, from Lincolnshire and north Norfolk down to Kent, could see temperatures reaching up to 33C (91.4F) today. “After Tues
day, we are looking at a downward trend in temperatures for the rest of the week,” he said. “It will generally be a lot cooler in the west with more cloud and the risk of showers and it will be noticeably cooler across the country by the weekend.”
Mr Box said an “Arctic maritime air mass” moving in on Friday would introduce a cold front but insisted that summer was not quite over yet.
Wales enjoyed a record 28.6C (83.5F) in Hawarden on Sunday, while the top temperature in Northern Ireland was 24.2C (75.6F) at Stormont Castle. Scotland’s top temperature was the 28.4C (83F) recorded near Glasgow.
It’s the morning after the bank holiday before. The grass is damp and cobweb-strewn in the morning, the nights are drawing in and it’s time to head back to school and work. So why are so many of us still smiling?
Bank holidays usually mean television pictures of umbrellas blowing inside out on rainswept promenades, but last week forecasters were beaming as they shared the good news: coast-to-coast sunshine! Could it be true? Yes, we were sunblest, and most of us agree that this was, indeed, the best bank holiday ever.
The end of August can be tinged with melancholy. As we know, summer’s lease hath all too short a date – especially in Britain – and this summer has been a bit “four seasons”, to put it mildly. On the East Anglian coast, we’ve had wild winds, heavy rain, thick-jumper mornings, fog… But then, just as it was time to pack away the swimming trunks and bring out the school name tapes, summer finally came good.
In my Suffolk seaside village, the population quadruples over August. We know it’s “the season” if we walk down the street and see someone we don’t recognise. There are lycra-clad joggers on the marshes, startling the ambling dog walkers, and an angry cry echoes round the Co-op: “What do you mean you have no tri-coloured quinoa?” But if you live somewhere beautiful, other people want to come and see it. And, boy, did they come over the weekend!
A sign went up at the top of the village: “The car parks are full.” But of course they still chanced it, having to turn round by the church and go back, creating traffic chaos. We had a beach invasion like no other, with many first-time sea swimmers, happy to “come on in” because the water was lovely – an unbelievable 20 degrees.
On Saturday, like many villages around the country, we held our summer fete. The sun blazed down on the picture-postcard green, as our canon, Harry Edwards, opened proceedings dressed as a circus ringmaster and escorted by a ukulele band. We knew God was unlikely to rain on Canon Harry’s parade.
The sun also spotlit Suffolk’s own Ed Sheeran, who spent the weekend playing homecoming gigs in Ipswich.
Even the news seemed to take a turn for the lighthearted. The G7 summit seemed remarkably good-humoured, as our PM met his fellow world leaders. You don’t have to be a Brexiteer to smile at the image of Boris being guarded by policemen on paddleboards during his morning sea swim.
On Sunday afternoon, as we headed for the beach, everyone we passed said: “Isn’t it great? England won the test!” Howzat?
We lit the firepit in the garden, toasted marshmallows – and Ben Stokes and the England cricket team – then watched the sea-salty Jane Austen TV drama Sanditon.
Yesterday, we learned, was the hottest August bank holiday Monday ever. Long into day three, sausages were being burned on barbecues, ice creams were melting in moments and our happiness cup ranneth over – even when the pubs ran out of cold lager.
There are those who say we have too many bank holidays crammed into the first half of the year, and that the late August one is superfluous – or should be moved into winter. Killjoys! We need a sunny break before the leaves begin to fall.
And this fabulous August bank holiday has ended our season, in the sun. Now bring on the mists and mellow fruitfulness.