Millions of people in Britain woke to the country’s warmest night on Tuesday and braced themselves for a day when temperatures are expected to reach 40C as a heat wave scorching Europe engulfs a country more used to mild weather and rain.
The UK Met Office said provisional figures showed temperatures stayed above 25C overnight in some parts of the country for the first time.
Met Office forecaster Rachel Ayers said Tuesday’s highs would be “unprecedented”.
“Temperatures will be very hot throughout the day before rising to 40C, perhaps even 41C in places across England in the afternoon,” she said.
Much of England, from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north, is under the country’s first “extreme” heat warning, meaning even healthy people are at risk of death.
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The UK issues its first extreme heat warning as temperatures reach record highs
Parts of the UK are under an extreme heat warning for the first time. The hot temperatures brought much of the country, unaccustomed to such high temperatures, to a standstill.
Hot and dry weather has gripped southern Europe since last week, sparking wildfires in Spain, Portugal and France before moving north.
Many train routes are not operating
Monday’s temperature reached 38.1C in Santon Downham in eastern England, just short of the highest temperature ever recorded in Britain of 38.7C, a record only set in 2019. Tuesday is expected to be hotter.
Average July temperatures in the UK range from a daytime high of 21C to a nighttime low of 12C, and few homes or small businesses have air conditioning.
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As wildfires fueled by extreme heat raged across France, Spain, Italy and Greece, there was an ominous warning issued by the head of the United Nations at a climate change meeting in Berlin: take collective action now or risk “collective suicide”.
Many people coped with the heat wave by staying put. Traffic on the roads was down from its usual levels on Monday. Trains were running at low speeds for fear of warped tracks or not running at all.
London Luton Airport had to close its runway due to heat damage. The airport said on Tuesday it was “fully operational” but warned that a number of train routes into the city were down due to the heat.
London’s King’s Cross station, one of the country’s busiest rail hubs, was empty on Tuesday, with no trains on the busy East Coast line linking the capital with the north and Scotland.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain’s transport infrastructure, some of which dates back to Victorian times, “was simply not built to withstand this type of temperature – and it will be many years before we can replace the infrastructure with the kind of infrastructure that can’.
📢Due to the extreme heat next week we are offering most train ticket holders refunds or compensation free of charge if they are unable to travel on Monday & Tuesday. Keep cool & safe by carrying water with you on your trip.https://t.co/bmfTPM9urd
—@grantshapps
Deadly consequences in Britain, Europe
At least five people have reportedly drowned across the UK in rivers, lakes and reservoirs while trying to cool off.
Climate experts have warned that global warming has increased the frequency of extreme weather events, with studies showing that temperatures in the UK are now 10 times more likely to reach 40C than in the pre-industrial era. Drought and heat waves associated with climate change have also made wildfires more difficult to fight.
The dangers of extreme heat were shown in southern Europe. Almost 600 heat-related deaths have been reported in Spain and Portugal, where temperatures reached 47C last week.
In the Gironde region of southwestern France, fierce wildfires continue to spread through dry pine forests, thwarting efforts by more than 2,000 firefighters and water-bombing planes.
More than 37,000 people have been evacuated from homes and summer vacation spots since the fires broke out on July 12 and burned 190 square kilometers of forest and vegetation, Gironde authorities said.
A smaller third fire broke out late Monday in the Medoc wine region north of Bordeaux, further straining firefighting resources. Five campsites burst into flames in the beach area of ​​the Atlantic coast, where flames raged around the Arcachon Sea Basin, famous for its oysters and resorts.
But the weather forecast offered some comfort, with temperatures from the heat expected to ease along the Atlantic coast on Tuesday and the chance of rain falling late in the day.
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