If you can’t stand the heat, Britain is the place to be
THOSE in search of a “proper” summer have grown used to heading south in August to reduce the short odds on a washout at home, but these past weeks have been throwing the bookies’ calculations out of the sunroof. Last month, for example, Shetland enjoyed substantially more hours of sunshine than that usual summer holiday standby, Cornwall, despite being 700 miles further north.
And in the sun-seekers’ favoured regions of southern Europe, there has been such a fierce heatwave – up to 116F (47C) in parts of Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and Croatia – that visitors are being warned to keep off the beaches in case they fry. In Italy, they have named the heatwave Lucifer, after the keeper of the fires of Hell. It is enough almost to make you grateful for our so far wet, disappointing summer here in Blighty. Almost. There will be a bright start to today over much of the country, as a high pressure system from the South West blows in briefly, bringing warmer, drier conditions.
But when I say warm, I mean 70F (21C) at best in London and the South East, 64F (18C) in Cardiff and just 59F (15C) in Glasgow. In other words, you’re safe to stay on the beach as long as you like. But probably best not to dawdle, because later in the day low pressure from out over the Atlantic will be muscling its way back in, with rain in the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland, and the mercury dropping elsewhere. That unseasonal combination will be making its way across and down over much of the UK tomorrow, as we are stuck in what feels like a weather groundhog day of perpetual sunshine and showers.
Those lows look likely to be pushed aside as Tuesday turns into Wednesday by a sufficiently robust developing high that it should bring warm conditions, certainly to the southern half of the country, and with luck right up to sun-kissed Shetland.