After sweating through the “warmest night on record,” Britain is preparing for the hottest day on record with temperatures expected to hit 43C (109F) today.
This will force hospitals to reschedule operations, threaten power outages, and cause even more transport mayhem.
The current temperature record of 38.7C (101.6F) is expected to be smashed today as the mercury is predicted to soar to a scorching 43C (109F).
Additionally, a “severe heat” amber weather warning has been issued for eastern, southern, and central Scotland.
This warning is in effect through Tuesday at midnight.
The NHS is under additional stress as a result of the rising temperatures, with planned procedures now needing to be “scaled back” because operating rooms are “becoming too hot”—a measure that was last put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to an increase in emergency calls from ambulance trusts as a result of the extreme heat in the UK, A&E facilities all around the country are at capacity.
To relieve pressure on the NHS and prevent a backlog of patients with heat-related ailments in emergency rooms, health officials are now advising Britons to “frequently put on suncream.”
‘Hot weather spells heighten pressure on the NHS, raising demand for urgent and emergency care and causing interruption to some planned care,’ said Miriam Deakin, temporary deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts.
Children, older persons, and those with underlying diseases are typically the most vulnerable.
Although further measures have been taken to boost ambulance capacity, ambulance trusts will still be under a lot of pressure as more 999 calls are anticipated.
The NHS estate was not designed to withstand severe storms.
We’ve heard over the last 48 hours that certain trusts are being forced to reduce the number of planned procedures because the operating rooms are becoming too hot.
Given the escalating COVID-19 infection and the need to alleviate the care backlogs that have accumulated due to the pandemic, “all of this adds up to a major problem for trusts.”
We’re seeing a spike in calls, and the additional resource we’ve put in place is to handle that, said Health Secretary Steve Barclay, who was present at the Cobra heatwave meeting last week.
The projected heatwave’s peak will really occur tomorrow afternoon, thus there is a temporal lag in the statistics as well. Therefore, that is the area of greatest worry, but we are getting more calls.
The railway network is anticipated to remain chaotic today, with more delays and cancellations for Britons.
The RAC has additionally cautioned drivers who could be making the commute to work that there may be a fifth more breakdown on Monday and Tuesday than usual.
It comes after Brits endured the “warmest night on record,” with the temperature in London reaching 29°C (84°F) at midnight and Southampton reaching 24°C (75F).
The temperature in Dover, Kent, stayed a few degrees lower and rose to 21C (70F) in the early morning, while Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, reached 66F (19C) (66F).
Wales saw its warmest day ever on Monday when the mercury soared to 37.1°C in Hawarden, Flintshire, breaking the previous mark for the nation set in 1990 by nearly 2°C.
But according to the Met Office, a burst of cool Atlantic air will move in from the west, bringing relief from the oppressive heat.
With some schools closed and commuters having difficulty getting to work, the scorching heat, which has already claimed more than 1,000 lives on the continent and caused deadly wildfires in some nations, is expected to inflict havoc.
Major wildfires will rip through the countryside tomorrow, according to experts. While the country put on its fans and air conditioning to attempt to stay cool, the National Grid issued a warning requesting more power plants tonight and predicted extremely high demand.
On Monday afternoon, a quick notification was sent to the power plants reminding them to make sure they have enough megawatts available to meet the anticipated increase in demand for electricity this evening.
Amid worries that hospitals will be overloaded, health officials advised patients to avoid going unless it was an emergency, while emergency services advised swimmers to avoid lakes and rivers in case they ran into trouble.
Health minister Steve Barclay stated that the worst is yet to come as emergency services are seeing an increase in 999 calls following a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee.
London Ambulance stated that it was expecting up to 8,000 calls by the end of today.
A ruptured water main in Kingston upon Thames caused havoc, and schools in Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, and Oxfordshire have closed or may close early. Water providers have also issued shortage warnings.
In the meantime, the Luton Airport runway was shut down for two hours due to a “surface flaw” in the heat today as England and Wales experienced their warmest days of the year as a result of fires breaking out, trains being cancelled, and schools being shuttered. Wales had its hottest day on record.
The country’s first-ever Red Extreme Heat warning was issued by the Met Office, which predicted that temperatures tomorrow might reach 43C, the hottest ever recorded, and result in “thousands” of fatalities.
Today was the third hottest day on record and the hottest day of the year at Santon Downham, Suffolk, where the temperature reached 38.1C.
Today, the temperature reached 31.3C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, and Leuchars, Fife, while London reached 37.5C (99.5F).
At RAF Brize Norton, flight operations were also suspended because, according to Sky News, a portion of the runway had melted.
Despite dramatic car fires in a Dorset parking lot and an oil tanker catching fire on the M25, wildfires continued to burn today despite weeks of extremely dry weather, extending over fields near Chesterfield in Derbyshire and Lickey Hills Country Park in Birmingham.
Flights at Luton restarted around 5.40 p.m., with arrivals following 15 minutes later, according to both the BBC and the Mirror, while it was stated that the final plane was believed to have taken off at around 3 p.m.
Flights reopened to a crowded terminal, but there were still significant delays because of the previous closure that prevented some aircraft from taking off.
One traveller stated that her flight had been rerouted to Stansted because the “runway has reportedly melted in Luton,” and that she couldn’t wait to “schlep with the kids across counties on the hottest day of the year” because her car was still at Luton.
A other person continued, “Diverted to Stansted, sat waiting to see if they would they fly us or bus us back to Luton.”
A surface fault on the runway was discovered as a result of today’s high temperatures. A Luton representative apologised to passengers, told MailOnline.
In order to resume operations as quickly as feasible, engineers were promptly called to the location. We sincerely apologise for the trouble this has caused.
“During this period of severe temperature flight safety is our top priority, so aircraft are using other airfields in accordance with a well established protocol,” an RAF spokeswoman said regarding RAF Brize Norton. This indicates that RAF operations are unaffected.
The current UK temperature record is almost certainly going to be broken on Tuesday, when temperatures in London and Yorkshire might both reach a “crazy” 40 degrees Celsius.
The Met Office said that Aboyne in Aberdeenshire and Leuchars in Fife had temperatures of 31.3C on Monday afternoon.
The temperature reached its highest point in Aviemore at 29.9C, while the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh recorded 30.8C.
Despite experts’ predictions, temperatures have not yet surpassed Scotland’s 9 August 2003 record of 32.9C at Greyrcrook in the Scottish Borders.
The Met Office in the United Kingdom has issued the nation’s first red extreme heat warning for Monday and Tuesday for much of England.
According to the Met Office, tonight will be hot and uncomfortable and higher than the typical July afternoon.
Northern Ireland experienced its warmest day of the year, with several locations recording temperatures exceeding 30C, such as Derrylin in Co. Fermanagh (31.1C) and Armagh (30.6C).
In County Tyrone’s Castlederg in July of last year, 31.3C (88.3F) was the highest temperature ever recorded in Northern Ireland.
A yellow weather alert has been issued for the Republic of Ireland following the Phoenix Park temperature on Monday surpassing the previous record of 32.3C set on July 19, 2006 in Elphin, Co. Roscommon.
“This is only 0.3C behind the all-time record set at Kilkenny Castle in 1887, which has stood for 135 years,” noted Met Eireann. The temperature could yet increase.
Rail lines in London’s Vauxhall buckled elsewhere due to the heat, leading to a safety examination on the line that disrupted service between Waterloo and Clapham Junction.
Additionally, service between Cambridge and Kings Lynn was halted due to a buckled rail at Watlington in Norfolk, according to operator Great Northern.
Additionally, all flights into and out of Oxfordshire’s RAF Brize Norton were grounded because, according to a military source, the runway “had melted.”
In Buckinghamshire, 53 schools have shut down and switched to remote instruction.
In other news, sports day has been cancelled at Northwood Community Primary School in Kirkby, Merseyside, while all on-site detentions have been cancelled for today and tomorrow at Worcestershire’s King Charles I School.
The Met Office also issues a warning, stating that Tuesday’s low 20s, and possibly mid 20s in a few isolated locations, are expected to be the warmest night on record in the UK.
“I’ve been a qualified meteorologist for 10 years, and telling people about 41C in the UK doesn’t seem genuine,” said Luke Miall of the Met Office.
I’ve never seen the models generate these kinds of figures, so it’s crazy how we’re talking about them.
With all these temperatures in the UK, “climate change has really opened my eyes.”
The maximum temperatures we anticipate tomorrow will be further north as that warm air pushes north, Professor Endersby said this morning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We think today we may well have the warmest day in the UK in history,” he said.
“We actually have a better possibility of 40C and above temps tomorrow,” said the forecaster. 41C is not out of the question, even conceivably above that.
Even though we’ve included some 43Cs in the model, we’re hoping it won’t be that high.
The Met Office’s chief executive, Penny Endersby, stated: “The high heat we are currently anticipating is truly unprecedented.”
Please take these warnings carefully and heed the advise, just as you would if we had issued a red or amber wind or snow warning.
Due to a lack of air conditioning, one Hertfordshire GP office was forced to close today; other London GP offices texted patients to alert them to the limited number of clinic rooms available; and Milton Keynes University Hospital announced that it would be “standing down routine outpatient appointments and surgery” today and tomorrow.
An air conditioning machine malfunctioned during a murder trial in London, forcing the judge to delay the case and transfer it to the Old Bailey, claiming he had “no choice.”
The air conditioning system at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff collapsed during a heat wave, leaving the oncology ward without it.
Engineers are trying to repair the problem that is harming the chemotherapy area, but according to health officials, if they are unable, patients will be transferred to another ward so they can stay cool.
In the meantime, Royal Mail issued a warning about delivery delays, stating today: “Our personnel have been asked to return to the office with any mail they have been unable to deliver and not put themselves at any risk of falling unwell owing to the excessive heat.”
To safeguard the soldiers, the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace was toned back.
To avoid exposing the Queen’s Guard to the midday sun for an excessive amount of time, the marching and ceremonial parade was cut short.
However, Guardsmen were still compelled to march outside the Palace while standing at attention in their full uniforms and Canadian bearskins.
Additionally, a standing guard who was receiving water while standing in the bright sun was observed.
This morning, portions of London were already experiencing rail mayhem as health officials declared a “national emergency.”
The Overground was suspended between Willesden Junction and Richmond as well as between Romford and Upminster.
The Hammersmith & City Line was totally shut down owing to “heat related restrictions,” and there was no Metropolitan Line between Baker Street and Aldgate.
The District, Central, Bakerloo, and Jubilee lines on the Underground all experienced significant delays. Transport for London advised all city residents to forgo unnecessary travel.
Around 1.06 million entries and exits were made by London Underground passengers up to 10am on Monday, according to Transport for London (TfL), down 18% from the same time last week. TfL recommended people to “only travel if needed.”
The UK will be hotter than Nassau, Bahamas (32C), Kingston, Jamaica (33C), Malaga, Spain (28C), Athens, Greece (35C), Albufeira, Portugal (28C), and Dakhla, Western Sahara (Dakhla) due to the intense heat (24C).
At midday today, the temperature in London had already risen to 34C (93F). In the midst of what weather predictions labelled an “extraordinary hot period,” Brits camped up overnight at Bournemouth Beach to secure the finest place today:
Foot traffic in London was down 10% throughout high streets, retail parks, and shopping centres today compared to last week as a result of the hot weather.
The total statistic for UK shopping locations was down 3%, although foot traffic on high streets in coastal towns increased by 9%.
With both the automobile and its people overheating, the heatwave could pose serious issues for many older vehicles lacking air conditioning or current maintenance. It’s best to drive outside during the warmest time of the day.
“Be sure to pack enough of water—at least one litre for each traveller.” In hot conditions, staying hydrated can help reduce body temperatures in both you and other passengers.
If the worst happens, you can keep yourself and others who are with you hydrated while you wait for rescue.
Anglian Water apologised for an outage in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, caused by a 22-inch pipe burst, which left some Britons without water.
In the meantime, Andrew Tucker, Thames Water’s manager for water demand reduction, has asked customers to use water sparingly, especially in their backyard gardens, as the heatwave has caused demand to be “at near record level.”
According to Mr. Tucker, Thames Water is not currently considering any water restrictions, b
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