The British Met Office announces a heat alert for the first time

The UK Met Office issued a red alert for the first time on Friday due to the intense heat. “The temperatures are likely to be exceptional and may break the record early next week,” said Paul Gunderson, chief of meteorology at the Met Office. According to the agency, there is a 50 per cent chance that temperatures in the UK will rise to 40C on Monday or Tuesday.

There is even an 80 per cent chance of setting a new heat record in Great Britain. The country’s previous temperature record was 38.7 degrees on 25 July 2019 at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

With temperatures now expected, Gundersen explained, the nights will likely be “unusually warm, especially in urban areas.” “This is likely to have far-reaching effects on people and infrastructure,” the expert warned. “This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”

According to its regulations, the Bureau of Meteorology issues a Red Alert only if it is “highly likely” that there are “risks to life and extremities”, and major disruptions to traffic and power supplies and “serious damage to property and infrastructure” are expected. The red alert applies to parts of central, north, east and southeast England for Monday and Tuesday.

The British Met Office sees a connection between the expected extreme heat and climate change. The agency explained that even if extreme heat also occurred “as part of natural climate change”, its increase in recent decades “is clearly associated with the observed warming of the planet” and can be attributed to “human activities”. gas emissions to mankind.

British hospitals have already warned of an increase in hospital admissions due to rising temperatures. Train operators have prepared their customers to cancel trains due to severe weather.

Publication date: 7/15/2022 – Source: Agence France-Presse