UK braces for ‘longest heatwave in 50 years’ as more hot air to come in from France

Weather: Expert warns of 'longest heatwave in 50 years

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High temperatures across the country have sparked a health emergency as mercury is set to rise to the mid-30s over the next week. Weather presenter Louise Lear has pointed to a plume of hot air due to blow in from Spain in the latest BBC weather map as a clue the heatwave shows no sign of letting off. 

Ms Lear told BBC News: “We’ll take a look at some of these pictures so we’re looking at that dark red spot to the south of Spain and Portugal that’s where we’re seeing these plus 40-degree temperatures.

“This is gonna go on now though, for days across Iberia Wednesday, it bumps a bit further north we’re gonna see some heat getting into France and Germany but actually across northern Europe, things sort of temper a little bit for the latter part of the week.

“Some weather systems come in into the cloud to slightly cooler air but we never lose that core of heat across Iberia and that’s a really crippling thing.

“This could be the longest sustained heatwave that we’ve seen in 50 years.”

She added: “What’s quite interesting as we look a bit closer to home is what happens through Sunday and Monday. 

“It looks like we could get quite a significant southerly airflow into the UK just tapping into that real hotspot and dragging significance onto our shores, particularly for Sunday and the start of next week.”

The Met Office has extended its warning for extreme heat across parts of England and Wales into the beginning of next week.

The rare “amber” warning for exceptionally high temperatures, posing a potential risk to life, was first issued to cover Sunday and has now been updated to include the whole of Monday.

MET Office: Weather forecast for Tuesday as heatwave continues

Temperatures are predicted to soar into the 30s, with a 30 percent chance of seeing the hottest day on record for the UK, beating the existing high of 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019.

Scientists warn that current heatwaves have been made hotter, longer, and more frequent by climate change.

The UK must adapt to a future of more intense heatwaves, with new homes built to cope with higher temperatures, more green areas in cities, and measures such as external shading and insulation fitted to existing properties, experts said.

Households are being urged to save water as the temperatures push up demand after months of dry weather in some areas.

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Water companies say they are are not yet planning to bring in restrictions such as hosepipe bans, but some are warning that groundwater and reservoir supplies are lower than average following low rainfall this year.

Yorkshire Water said its reservoirs were 62 percent full, down 18 percent on usual stocks after below-average rainfall in spring and summer, with the dry weather stretching back to last autumn in North Yorkshire.

The water firm said it pumped 200 million litres more water than normal on Monday as the heatwave took hold, an amount equivalent to supplying another city the size of Leeds.

Neil Dewis, director of water, said: “Our region has seen a prolonged dry spell, and while we’ve not had a bumper summer of sunshine and high temperatures, there has been very little rain with just some short, sharp showers that don’t deliver the water we need in our reservoirs and rivers.”

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