The Met Office has issued its first red warning for extreme heat (Image: PA/Getty)
Experts have warned that thousands of people could die during next week’s heatwave, when temperatures are forecast to reach a dangerously high peak.
The Met Office issued its first red warning for extreme heat on Monday and Tuesday and warned that lives could be at risk as the mercury looks set to hit 40C.
A second emergency COBRA meeting was held on Saturday, after which Cabinet Secretary Keith Malthouse urged Britons to do the “next door thing” and check on the more vulnerable.
Health officials fear that those living alone on upper floors are among those who may be most at risk, as was the case during the deadly heat wave that burned Paris to ashes almost 20 years ago.
Penny Endersby, chief executive of the Met Office, described “the extreme heat we are forecasting at the moment is absolutely unprecedented”.
In a somber video shared online, she added: ‘Here in the UK we are used to treating hot spells as a chance to go and play in the sun. The weather is not like that.
Our forecasters @metoffice have issued the first ever Red Extreme Heat Warning for unprecedented heat across parts of the UK on Monday and Tuesday.
Please take this warning seriously and take measures to protect yourself and those around you. #heatwave pic.twitter.com/vjMUsvYtbP
— @MetOfficeCE (@metofficece) July 15, 2022 Monday’s forecast (Image: Met Office) Tuesday is expected to be even hotter (Image: Met Office) The heat wave is set to peak dangerously high (Image: Alamy Live News.) People were urged to look after those most vulnerable to extreme heat (Photo: Giannis Alexopoulos/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock)
The schools announced they would close on Monday and Tuesday, telling students they were “unable to maintain the temperature in many of our rooms at an acceptable and safe level.”
People were also urged not to travel because high temperatures could melt highways and railways.
Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, told the Guardian: “We could see 1,500 to 2,000 deaths from this period of heat alone.”
Professor Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, told the paper: “I think that, assuming the weather forecasts are roughly correct, it is very likely that there will be hundreds or thousands of additional heat deaths over the next few days.
“It is possible that because there has been so much warning of the upcoming high temperatures, people and businesses are taking more precautions than would normally be the case in a heat wave, which could reduce the number of excess deaths.” I hope this happens, but I fear there will still be overkill on a fairly large scale.
Speaking to LBC, the government’s former chief scientist Sir David King said it was “very likely to be the hottest heatwave we have experienced in the UK”.
He said, “if you’re even in the shade in 40°C heat and 80% humidity, you’re not going to live very long. You just can’t get rid of excess heat.
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Sir David added that his advice would be to “stay indoors” and recalled the 2003 heatwave in France that killed 15,000 people.
The expert told host Matt Frey: “You mention figures of thousands of deaths.
“I’m afraid the additional deaths on Monday and Tuesday should be expected to be roughly in that range – a few thousand to 10,000.”
Daytime temperatures on Saturday are expected to be around 27°C in London, 26°C in Cardiff, 23°C in Belfast and 21°C in Edinburgh.
Sunday could reach 30°C in the capital, 27°C in Cardiff, 24°C in Belfast and 23°C in Edinburgh.
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Temperatures are expected to rise a few more degrees on Tuesday – into the mid-30s for much of England and Wales.
There is a 50% chance of temperatures reaching 40C somewhere in the UK, possibly along the A1 corridor that runs from London to Scotland through counties including Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and the North East, with the Met Office issuing its first red extreme heat warning.
The UK’s Health Security Agency has raised its heat health warning from level three to level four – a “national emergency”.
A fourth level is reached “when the heat wave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend beyond the health and social care system… At this level, illness and death can occur among the healthy and not just the high-risk groups,’ it said.
The UK could see its first recorded temperature above 40°C (Image: earth.nullschool.net/SWNS)
Meanwhile, Britons are scrambling to buy fans and looser clothing to help keep them cool during the heatwave.
Retailer Toolstation said fan sales were up 641% in the past week compared to the week before, as traders struggled to stay calm.
The company also said that sales of shorts increased by 50% and T-shirts by 35%.
Fire brigades including South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and London Fire Brigade have issued safety warnings urging people to act responsibly.
They warn people to dispose of barbecues, lit cigarettes and glass bottles responsibly, not to burn rubbish such as garden waste and use local authority services instead, and that barbecues should not be used on balconies or near sheds, fences, trees, bushes and garden waste to avoid catching fire.
They also urge people who cool off in waterways to watch out for cold water shock.
Contact our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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