Heatwave what Heatwave ?

DelayRepay · 19 Jul 2022

My nephew's primary school was built within the last 10 years, and does not have air conditioning other than in the sports hall. They didn't close though, they let the kids wear shorts and t-shirts instead of their uniform and made sure they had plenty of water to drink. I think that was sensible - they know from Covid times that a lot of parents still have to go to work so closing for the day causes lots of problems.

brad465 said:
This year is not far off in terms of dry conditions, if this autumn and winter doesn't see much rain in the south-east we're in real trouble. Below is a map from the South-East Water Situation report showing rainfall relative to average over the last 1, 3, 6 and 12 months:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1089438/South_East_England_Water_Situation_Report_June_2022.pdf

I also happen to know from the April report that November 2021-April 2022 was the second-driest Nov-Apr on record, where the driest was, you guessed it, 1976.

That's interesting. I was saying to someone the other day I'm surprised we haven't seen talk of hose pipe bans etc. yet. When I was a kid they were common. I did see some requests from the water companies yesterday for people to try to minimise usage but that's the first I've seen over the last few years.

I did my bit; I used my water butt to water the garden instead of the hose. Water butt is empty now, so fingers crossed for some rain to fill it up again, and to turn the grass back from brown to green!

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yorksrob · 19 Jul 2022

I've booked a seat in my employers air conditioned office block today. Last summer I was in there and it was like a fridge !

Gloster · 19 Jul 2022

It is not easy getting the message that this level of heat is dangerous through to the hardcore of people who just see sun as a chance to add to to their tan and poo-poo suggestions that this is far beyond anything that most of them have experienced. It is not helped by the PM skipping COBRA meetings to go off on a boy’s adventure trip: if the news had said ‘the PM attended...’ rather than ‘a meeting was held to discuss...’ a few might pay attention.

nlogax · 19 Jul 2022

yorksrob said:
I've booked a seat in my employers air conditioned office block today. Last summer I was in there and it was like a fridge !

As far as I can tell this is one good reason to returning to offices...all that lovely a/c. Have done exactly the same thing for Thursday

Xenophon PCDGS · 19 Jul 2022

C J Snarzell said:
I'm surprised Chris Whitty hasn't put in appearance yet to tell us all the implications of too much exposure to the sun. I'm guessing after the Covid affair he's probably keeping away from the Government and the media.

CJ

Would he have had to be invited to take part in such a matter? Or do some people think that people such as Chris Whitty have carte blanche to appear in media presentations as and when the mood so takes them.

Busaholic · 19 Jul 2022

Woken a few minutes before eight o'clock in Penzance by a rumble of thunder, after the longest continuous sleep I've had in months i.e. almost six hours! Now have back door wide open letting in the very fresh air, temperature down by about 15 degrees in last hour!

AndrewE · 19 Jul 2022

yorkie said:
To some extent maybe but it is really important that people are advised on how to avoid heatstroke and to drink plenty of water. I've encountered several people today who I think weren't taking it seriously enough and weren't drinking enough water; this is a common problem in hot weather in the UK in my experience.

I've really made an effort today to drink enough water and it has paid off.

I am surprised that the need for salt intake hasn't been mentioned yet. (or oral rehydration mixtures.) https://blog.outdoorherbivore.com/life/eliminate-leg-cramps-while-hiking/ talks about electrolyte balance, and it is part of heat stroke.

We always have sachets of the powder with us on summer mountain expeditions or even ordinary walks on hot days, and at home I put a pinch of salt into diluted carton orange juice.

(My first summer vacation job was night shifts in a faggot and pork pie factory, collecting up the deep aluminium trays used for the ingredients and putting them through a hot steamy tunnel-washing machine.
Even overnight it was hot and so the works canteen drinks machine had (for free) very thin lemon squash with a trace of salt in it. At first it tasted horrible but I got used to it.)

yorkie · 19 Jul 2022

I just asked an attendance officer at a school in York what today's attendance is and she said 44%, so a lot of parents are keeping kids at home today.

Howardh · 19 Jul 2022

The cooler, more normal weather has already hit the south west, including heavy downpours and thunderstorms; this screenshot shows the SW is now much cooler;

dgl · 19 Jul 2022

Record now broken for hottest day, with 39.1°C (102.38°F) recorded at Charlwood in Surrey according to the met office.

From the BBC News live page,

New UK record temperature
The UK has experienced its hottest day on record, with the temperature reaching 39.1C in Charlwood, Surrey, according to provisional Met Office figures.
The previous UK record of 38.7C was set in Cambridge in 2019.

Xenophon PCDGS · 19 Jul 2022

36 degrees Celsius around here and I was telephoned by the local NHS clinic to say my appointment had been moved onward to 1415 this afternoon when it is going to be even hotter. I have four cans of Perrier sparkling water in my fridge to give my taxi driver when he comes as his tip.

brad465 · 19 Jul 2022

40C provisionally recorded at Heathrow.

adc82140 · 19 Jul 2022

High level cloud is starting to drift in here, but the forecasts always said the highest temperatures would be in the east. London, East Anglia and the A1 corridor still have a couple of hours of heating to go before the cloud reaches there.

MikeWM · 19 Jul 2022

39 currently in the Cambridge area and the highest heat is moving north. We'll almost certainly hit 40 here too, but the record temperature still looks likely to be somewhere around Sheffield/Doncaster in a couple of hours time. Cloud permitting of course.

Doesn't look like we'll get much of a breakdown here either - quite possibly still low 30s here tomorrow. Doesn't look like we'll get a decent storm either

D821 · 19 Jul 2022

MikeWM said:
39 currently in the Cambridge area and the highest heat is moving north. We'll almost certainly hit 40 here too, but the record temperature still looks likely to be somewhere around Sheffield/Doncaster in a couple of hours time. Cloud permitting of course.

Doesn't look like we'll get much of a breakdown here either - quite possibly still low 30s here tomorrow. Doesn't look like we'll get a decent storm either

For me, the best part of a heatwave is a good thunderstorm afterwards!

MikeWM · 19 Jul 2022

D821 said:
For me, the best part of a heatwave is a good thunderstorm afterwards!

Totally agree! The Met Office forecast does show we may have one here just before midnight, but I don't see much other evidence in other forecasts - let's see.

There's also now a yellow warning for thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon/evening, covering most of the south-east...

Bletchleyite · 19 Jul 2022

MikeWM said:
There's also now a yellow warning for thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon/evening, covering most of the south-east...

Good.

(Hopefully not too much flooding though)

AndrewE · 19 Jul 2022

MikeWM said:
Totally agree! The Met Office forecast does show we may have one here just before midnight, but I don't see much other evidence in other forecasts - let's see.

There's also now a yellow warning for thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon/evening, covering most of the south-east...

Sadly, not for the Midlands. I fear that even the band of rain currently Weymouth-Cardiff-Aberystwyth will run out before it gets much further east. Brum has under 20% chance of seeing any rain tomorrow - and that is only over one 3-hour period!

Butts · 19 Jul 2022

About 30 here, had a smattering of rain around 1230 but it didn't come to anything.

D6130 · 19 Jul 2022

Now reached 37 in Hebden Bridge, with a strong and very hot breeze.

kristiang85 · 19 Jul 2022

There looks to be a couple of large fires in Dartford - even properties ablaze. Awful.

nlogax · 19 Jul 2022

East Ren actually feels cooler than yesterday. Low to mid 20s in the garden here, fair bit of cloud but still rather blissful.

AlterEgo · 19 Jul 2022

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Would he have had to be invited to take part in such a matter? Or do some people think that people such as Chris Whitty have carte blanche to appear in media presentations as and when the mood so takes them.

Whitty did indeed issue advice on heat exhaustion during the weekend:

https://twitter.com/CMO_England/status/1547888816421146629

Peter0124 · 19 Jul 2022

As for the heat here in Eastern Glasgow, whilst it's not as hot as down south it's boiling and I'm getting a sore head going out in it. About 31-32 degrees according to Google.

kristiang85 · 19 Jul 2022

Khan has declared a 'serious incident' due to multiple fires across the Greater London area.

MikeWM · 19 Jul 2022

Despite my 'optimism' above, not sure Cambridge is going to get 40 now. Everywhere seems stuck at 39-and-a-bit and the peak may have now passed here. (Still incredibly hot though!)

I hope somewhere does better than the earlier Heathrow reading though, that one would just create a lot of tedious debate about how legitimate a reading at an airport is, we'd never hear the end of it.

Lincolnshire and/or South Yorkshire now the most likely.

D6130 · 19 Jul 2022

kristiang85 said:
There looks to be a couple of large fires in Dartford - even properties ablaze. Awful.

There was a large fire at the garden centre on the North side of the Calder Valley line between Walsden and Summit Tunnel this morning. I'm surprised that the line wasn't closed because of the danger from exploding gas cylinders. The same garden centre was severely damaged by fire during the hot summer of 2009.

DerekC · 19 Jul 2022

Just on 35 deg here in the Hampshire sticks. My grandson's class re-run of the Great Fire of London (with cardboard box houses and real fire) has been cancelled because the Fire Brigade was too busy. Sensible decision but much disappointment!

mm333 · 19 Jul 2022

MikeWM said:
Despite my 'optimism' above, not sure Cambridge is going to get 40 now. Everywhere seems stuck at 39-and-a-bit and the peak may have now passed here. (Still incredibly hot though!)

I hope somewhere does better than the earlier Heathrow reading though, that one would just create a lot of tedious debate about how legitimate a reading at an airport is, we'd never hear the end of it.

Lincolnshire and/or South Yorkshire now the most likely.

Coningsby has also reached 40.2 as at 3pm according to https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1549404883744333824

Yesterday, the 5pm reading was 2 degrees higher than the 3pm, so scope for it to get higher

Lost property · 19 Jul 2022

50C (in the conservatory at 1300 yesterday...54C at 1200 today..so getting a bit warmish) OAT 39C. Said conservatory does face South however.

The Met Office..once upon a time, a prestigious and respected organisation, and yes, it's true they correctly predicted this heatwave...however, their daily forecasts can be woefully inaccurate.. the number of times the symbols on their regional sites shows weather which is the reverse to actual weather does their credibility no favours.

Heatwave what Heatwave ?

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