The Met Office has extended its extreme heat amber warning for Monday and Tuesday across southern and eastern England and South Wales, where temperatures are expected to reach 35°C (95°F). It has predicted that the highest temperature on record for June, which is currently 35.6°C in Southampton in 1976, could be broken and warned that “tropical nights”, where overnight temperatures don’t fall below 20°C, are likely in cities.
Dr Akshay Deoras, an atmospheric scientist at Reading University, said the heatwave is the result of high pressure systems known as heat domes, which trap heat and force the air to heat up. According to Deoras, global warming has made these weather systems much worse, as the increase in greenhouse gases “trap heat like a blanket” in the atmosphere, exacerbating the heat domes. “Global heating has made this heatwave much more intense and prolonged, which will make it much more dangerous,” he said.
Heatwaves carry serious health risks for elderly people, young children, and people with heart conditions as well as other illnesses. “If you are aware of people around who have health issues, keep an eye on them,” he said.
He warned people to hydrate regularly, stay out of the sun between 11am and 4pm, apply sunscreen and be careful if swimming outdoors. During last month’s record-breaking heatwave 11 water-related deaths were reported across the UK.
“Because it’s hot, everyone wants to go cool down and jump in to lakes, rivers and the sea but the water temperature is lower than the air temperature which leads to cold shocks and an increase in drowning cases,” Deoras said.
‘As heatwaves become more frequent, the quality of our housing stock will increasingly determine who remains safe and who becomes vulnerable’
‘As heatwaves become more frequent, the quality of our housing stock will increasingly determine who remains safe and who becomes vulnerable’
Much of the UK’s infrastructure is not built to withstand extreme heat. “Many people can escape the sun, but they cannot escape an overheating home,” said Professor Ronita Bardhan, who researches the sustainable built environment and health at Cambridge University. “As heatwaves become more frequent, the quality of our housing stock will increasingly determine who remains safe and who becomes vulnerable,” she said.
According to Dr Robbie Parks, who researches public health and climate at Columbia University, there are a number of adaptations that should be taking place in order to deal with hotter British summers. “We need indoor cooling, building sustainably with materials that can effectively cool, building ways that air can pass through buildings, and having public transport systems that are adequately cooled,” he said. Heatwaves, he warned, are “only going to get worse from now on.”
Photograph by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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