Brits are set to bake in 30C heat today as forecasters warn this ‘brutal’ summer could be the hottest on record.
Sweltering temperatures may be here to stay throughout July and August, with early models suggesting a heat dome — a mass of stagnant hot air — is developing over Europe.
The Met Office warned for adverse health effects, even in healthy people, as it issued an ‘amber’ extreme heat alert covering all of England on Sunday and Monday.
The mercury peaked at 31.7C in the village of Wisley, Surrey, yesterday and is expected to cool tomorrow and Friday before temperatures soar again until at least Tuesday.
Some supercomputer models have suggested it will be 43C this weekend although the Met Office said the ‘mid to high 30Cs’ was more likely.
There is around a 30% chance that the current heat record – 38.7C set in Cambridge in 2019 – could be broken.
Some schools and work places could be forced to close if classrooms and offices become too hot.
Network Rail warned speed restrictions would be introduced to protect tracks, while the RAC said breakdowns were up 10% on Monday as cars struggled to function properly.
Spokesman Rod Dennis said: ‘If temperatures were to go as high as around 40C, as some are predicting, then people should question their decision to drive in the first place.’
County councils in Hampshire and Lincolnshire are to dispatch gritters to spread sand over roads to try and stop them melting.
South Oxfordshire District Council said it would suspend bin collections if crews had to face extreme heat.
Households were urged to save water by utility companies, who are not bringing in hosepipe bans yet but warned groundwater and reservoir supplies are lower than average following low rainfall this year.
Up to 20,000 homes on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent were left without water after a main burst yesterday.
There are also fears of an increase in wildfires and people getting into difficulties while swimming to cool off.
It comes after teenager Jamie Lewin died on Saturday while going for a dip in a quarry near Wigan. Alfie McCraw, also 16, died swimming in a canal in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on Monday.
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