If you thought last weekend’s brief respite meant the worst was behind us, think again. Britain is about to get properly cooked.
The Met Office has expanded its amber extreme heat warning ahead of a renewed surge in temperatures, with forecasters now expecting the mercury to climb as high as 37°C by the middle of next week. Tuesday is shaping up to be the peak, with 36C to 37C possible across parts of southern England and Wales.
Saturday offered a moment to breathe, temperatures dipping just enough to remind us what “normal summer” used to feel like. Don’t get too comfortable. The heat is building again from the south, and this time the amber warning covers a wider swathe of the country than the initial alert did.
Amber warnings from the Met Office aren’t issued lightly. They signal conditions where heat-related illness becomes a real risk, particularly for older people, young children, and anyone with underlying health conditions. The NHS is already urging people to check on vulnerable neighbours and to keep homes as cool as possible during the overnight hours, when temperatures in cities may struggle to drop below 20C.
The advice remains consistent: stay out of direct sun between 11am and 3pm, drink water regularly, and don’t leave children or animals in parked cars under any circumstances.
Transport is another concern. Network Rail has previously imposed speed restrictions on certain lines during extreme heat to prevent track buckling, and there’s every chance we’ll see similar measures again if Tuesday’s forecast holds. Commuters in the South East would do well to check journey planners before heading out.
For context, the UK’s all-time temperature record stands at 40.3°C, set in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, in July 2022. We’re not nudging that territory this time around, but 37C is still brutal by any British standard, and the combination of heat and humidity can make it feel considerably worse.
Schools breaking up for summer in England and Wales this week means millions of children will be at home rather than in (poorly ventilated) classrooms, which is arguably one small mercy.
The bigger question, as these warnings become a more regular fixture of the British summer, is how long we can keep treating each heatwave as a novelty rather than a new normal.
