The Met Office has issued a series of new amber weather warnings for 90 UK areas while also alerting millions of Britons over the possibility of power cuts. The ‘danger to life’ amber extreme heat warnings will come into force on midnight on Wednesday and run until 11.59pm on Thursday.
The national forecaster warned that failure of heat-sensitive systems and equipment is likely during the extreme heat conditions, with the probable loss of power and other essential services, such as water, electricity, gas or mobile phone services. The Met Office also warned that there is a chance of delay on roads and cancellation to rail and air travel as the amber warning remains in place. It further added: “Population-wide adverse health effects are likely to be experienced, not limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat, leading to potential serious illness or danger to life. Substantial changes in working practices and daily routines likely to be required.”
Temperatures are likely to soar to a blistering 38C on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the national weather forecaster.
The extreme heat will begin to start building from Tuesday, with the mercury forecast to skyrocket to 37C for southern England and 35C for southeast Wales. The peak of the heatwave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when temperatures are expected to climb to 38C.
The Met Office said: “By Friday conditions will be less hot, with highs of 33C forecast across eastern areas.”
Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster Tom Crabtree, said: “The forecast heatwave is developing into an impactful severe weather event, with record breaking June temperatures and very high humidity. The combination of heat and humidity will be oppressive and bring impacts across society from public health and infrastructure, to power and water supplies.
“As well as very high daytime temperatures, there will be consecutive nights where temperatures do not drop below 20°C, which is called a Tropical Night. This will make it very hard for people to recover from the daytime heat, exacerbating the heat stress impacts.”
London & South East England
Cheshire West and Chester
Bath and North East Somerset
West Midlands Conurbation