Health Warning Issued As UK Braces Itself For Hottest Day Of The Year

The Met Office has issued a 'heat-health alert' as the UK braces itself for the hottest day of the year.

Temperatures are expected to rise over the coming days, reaching a peak on Thursday, when London is predicted to be hotter than Ibiza.

A heat alert is triggered when the Met Office forecasts there is a 60 percent or higher risk of temperatures breaking pre-set thresholds in one or more regions on at least two consecutive days and nights. The warning is issued so the public and healthcare professionals can take steps to minimise the threat to health.

Large swathes of the UK are expected to reach the high 20s by Wednesday, with central and south England predicted to reach highs of 30 to 34 Celsius.

The highest ever recorded June temperature is 35.6C, which was set at Mayflower Park, Southampton on 28 June 1976 - meanwhile the hottest day of 2020 was set on 20 May at Santon Downham in Suffolk, where it hit 28.2C.

Met Office chief meteorologist Dan Suri said: "Northern Ireland and Scotland will be under a band of cloud and rain on Monday and Tuesday, however it'll be dry elsewhere with plenty of warm sunshine and temperatures reaching 28 or 29 Celsius in a few spots on Tuesday.

"Temperatures will continue to climb through the week with a hot spell developing across much of England and Wales. From Wednesday temperatures will widely reach into the high twenties Celsius and it'll be hot across much of the UK, especially central and southern England where we could see highs of 30 to 34 Celsius.

"This hot weather is expected to last until at least Friday and so heatwave conditions are likely to develop for some areas this week."

PA

While most of us no doubt welcome the opportunity to soak up some rays - with plenty of sun cream, water, shade breaks and so on - it does come with a couple of caveats.

If you've got hay fever, then you're going to have a high pollen count to contend with, while the majority of us are going to have to battle warm nighttime temperatures, which are expected to stay in the mid to high teens across England and Wales.

Explaining how exactly this hot patch has come about, Dan said: "We quite often see warm, southerly air from the continent bringing these high temperatures to the UK in summer, however this week, the air across the UK has arrived from the Atlantic.

"This Atlantic air will descend and warm up as it moves across the UK and this in combination with clear skies and strong late-June sunshine, we're seeing temperatures rise."

Topics: Weather, UK News, Health

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey