Now stand by for the repeat wave
... just when you thought those scorching days were behind us
THE country is only just recovering from record-breaking temperatures a few weeks ago.
But as parched lawns turn to dust and ponds run dry, forecasters have warned heatwave conditions are set to return for a second time this summer.
Some areas could even hit the mid-30Cs (90F) next week, with the warm weather coming in from the Atlantic rather than southern Europe this time.
This will heap unwanted pressure on reservoir supplies around the country which are already running low, with some water companies starting to bring in hosepipe bans.
Yesterday South East Water – covering households in Kent and Sussex – became the second water company to introduce a hosepipe ban from August 12.
And Thames Water said it may need to implement ‘water-saving measures including restrictions’, while Welsh Water, Dwr Cymru, announced a temporary ban for customers in Pembrokeshire. And snapshots from around the country show why.
In Ashtead, Surrey, a ‘No Fishing’ sign now stands in an expanse of mud in a dried-up pond, while the water level in Rushmere Pond on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, is also low.
On Monday, the Met Office revealed provisional statistics showing July this year was the driest July for the whole of England since 1935, and the driest July on record for East Anglia, south-eastern and southern England.
Overall, the UK saw just 56 per cent (46mm or 1.8ins) of its average rainfall for July, the lowest level since 1999.
All months except February have been drier than average in 2022 so far, forecasters said.
It comes after the UK experienced its hottest ever temperature of 40.3C (104.5F) just a month ago on July 19.
The mercury is unlikely to reach the same heights next week but there could still be several days of very high temperatures.
Met Office chief forecaster Steve Willington said: ‘We could see parts of the UK entering heatwave conditions if the above-average temperatures last for three days or more. Many areas of the UK, especially the South, will witness temperatures several degrees higher than average, but these values are likely to be well below the record-breaking temperatures we saw in mid- July.’
He added: ‘As the high pressure builds there is very little meaningful rain in the forecast, especially in those areas in the south of England, which experienced very dry conditions last month. Elsewhere in the UK, such as in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, rain-bearing weather fronts will make limited headway against the high pressure, bringing some rain to north-western parts.’
Rebekah Sherwin, deputy chief meteorologist with the Met Office, said: ‘The weather pattern bringing next week’s hot spell is different from the one responsible for last month’s record- breaking temperatures which saw already hot air being drawn up from southern Europe adding to our own home-grown heat.’
TENSIONS are running high in the Utley household, as we prepare to meet our eldest son’s future mother-in-law for the first time. She’ll be flying over from her home in Canada to stay with us before the wedding, which takes place tomorrow week, and my wife is all of a flutter, getting everything ready to receive her.
She’s bought new bath towels for our guest — though I must say I can’t see anything wrong with the spanking-clean old ones in the airing cupboard. At colossal expense, she’s had a man in, with a special machine for getting rid of the weeds between the slabs on the patio.
Meanwhile, she has scrubbed and polished every surface in the house — and I’ve no doubt she’ll do it all again before our visitor arrives.
All this, and she’s still agonising about what to wear for the wedding. True, she’s bought a new hat and frock for the occasion.
But after weeks of scouring the shops and the internet, she just can’t find the right shoes to go with her outfit.
Women, eh?
Wilting
Strictly between you and me, I’m not at all sure what Mrs U is afraid of. By all accounts, the bride’s mother is a charming woman. Indeed, our son — who stayed with her in Toronto a few months ago — tells me that she’s perfectly delightful.
Was she ever likely to think: ‘Oh my God! What sort of man is my daughter marrying? You should see the weeds on his parents’ patio! As for their bath towels, they may be clean, but I’ll swear that they’ve been used before!’
However, there’s one simple step to make our property look its best, which my wife forbids me to take.
I’m thinking of her beloved garden, on which she lavishes her attention all year round. The sad fact is that, like so many others all over the country, just at the minute our garden looks profoundly depressing. The lawn is parched and brown, with hardly a green blade surviving. The flowers are wilting in their beds, and the apples cooking on the tree.
Time and again over the past couple of weeks, I’ve suggested we should turn on the sprinkler, to bring our modest little patch back to lush and lovely life, in time for the arrival of our guest.
After all, there’s no hosepipe ban in my Thames Water area just yet — though it can’t be long in coming. Indeed, with Southern Water imposing fines for using hosepipes from today — and South East Water from next Friday — you can be sure that my own supplier won’t be far behind.
But Mrs U won’t hear of using the sprinkler. A far more responsible citizen than I, she’s been conserving water like crazy since May, when Thames first urged us to limit our consumption.
The wilting pot plants on the patio get only what she can salvage from the kitchen sink, while the rest of the garden gets nothing. As for cleaning the car, which could well do with a wash-and-brush-up, she’d probably leave me if I attempted it.
But then, very reluctantly, I’m beginning to feel she has a point.
True, our garden is a dismal sight, and the car is covered in bird poo. But then how much more shaming it would be if we had the only green lawn in our neighbourhood, or the only gleaming vehicle in the road outside. Even before the threatened hosepipe ban is imposed, any visitor might have good reason to take a dim view of us.
As for those millions of unfortunates across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, who will be hit by the hosepipe bans imposed by Southern and South East, I advise them to beware of curtain-twitching neighbours.
During past bans, some were all too eager to report transgressors to the authorities. And in this age of the smartphone camera, I bet that sneaky sprinkler-users will suffer even more, finding themselves reviled all over the internet, with photographs to prove their guilt.
No, it’ll be safer by far to let the lawn stay brown and the car remain filthy.
Yet the real tragedy is that it’s all so unnecessary. For these islands of ours are awash with fresh water. It’s just that it’s not always to be found in the right place.
Surely it can’t be beyond the engineers’ wit to build the infrastructure needed to get the stuff from where it’s plentiful to where it’s needed?
Precious
Yes, I know I’m far from the first to have suggested this. Indeed, plans for a watergrid system have been drawn up almost every time we’ve had a dry spell in the past. But those plans invariably stay under wraps until the next time the sun shines in the South East, and nothing is ever done.
More irresponsible still is the sheer waste of this precious resource by the water companies themselves. Indeed, Thames alone loses a quarter of its water through leakages. Yet rather than step up their efforts to repair their pipes, such firms prefer to keep raking in the profits and making customers suffer when the reservoirs run dry.
Ah, well, it’s a pity that our garden will be such an eyesore when our Canadian guest comes to stay. But the great thing is that, a week tomorrow, we’ll be gaining a lovely and talented daughter-in-law, who I feel sure will make our son happy for the rest of his days.
After all, dare I say it, that probably matters more than a green lawn — or even
the perfect pair of shoes for the big day.