Another UK heatwave possible after weekend Met Office weather warning
Where are there weather warnings?
With low pressure passing the north of Scotland over the next few days, weather fronts are expected to sweep southwards across the UK. These will linger longest across northern areas, with rainfall totals enhanced on western hills by strong to gale force winds.The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain across parts of Argyll and Bute, the southern Highlands, Mull and Skye. It's valid until 15:00 (BST) on Saturday.It warns of 40 to 60mm (1.6 to 2.4in) of rain quite widely within these areas, and possibly over 100mm (4in) in some of the mountains. This could lead flooding and travel disruption, as well as possible interruption to power supplies. Winds of 40 to 50mph (64 to 80km/h) will make for difficult travel conditions too.
Sunshine and showers for the rest of the UK
This weekend comes with a bit of a reality check for those who experienced heatwave conditions for the last two weekends.With an area of low pressure still close to the UK winds will swing round to come from a more northerly direction. This will make it feel comparatively cool by Sunday, with temperatures peaking in the high teens or low twenties Celsius instead of the low thirties of last weekend.However, these sorts of temperatures are much closer to the long-term average for this time of year than we have seen recently.Low pressure also means that showers are possible just about anywhere throughout the weekend, with some seeing more than others. In contrast to the rain totals we will see in western Scotland, some areas of central and southern England, where rain has been lacking over recent months, may only receive 1 to 3mm (under 0.2in).It will not be a washout of a weekend though. All areas will see some sunshine at times too, especially on Sunday.
When could we see another heatwave?
June was the hottest on record across England, according to the Met Office, with statistics boosted by two heatwaves during the second half of the month.The temperature peaked during the first heatwave with a high of 33.2C recorded at Charlwood, Surrey on the 21 June. Little over a week later, on the 30 June both Jersey and Heathrow airports hit 33 Celsius, only to be exceed on the 1 July as St James's Park, London reached 34.7C. Heat health alerts were issued by the UK Health Security Agency widely across England to help prepare health and social services for an expected increase in demand.Some weather computer models are now showing that later next week it's possible that some areas could experience their third heatwave in four weeks.
Given we are talking about the second half of next week and beyond, a long time off when it comes to the weather, there are question marks over who will see any potential heatwave, how hot it will get and how long it will last.At the moment, like in the previous heatwaves, computer models are pointing to parts of central and eastern England seeing the highest temperatures. Some suggest we could again achieve temperatures around the 30C mark, possibly even higher. Much of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland however, are likely to be well below this.Some of the heat potential may already be showing up in the longer-term forecasts on your weather app and online, but it is worth treating the forecasts with caution for now.Changes in weather patterns to the west of the UK could disrupt the build of high pressure and southerly airflow that would help boost heat across eastern areas. A shift of wind direction or greater likelihood of cloud and showers would therefore limit the temperature rise.Your BBC weather teams across the UK will keep you updated on any changes through the days ahead.
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an hour ago
- Sky News
Third heatwave within a month could hit parts of UK, Met Office says
A third heatwave could hit parts of the UK by mid-July, the Met Office has said. The second weekend of July could see increasing heat and humidity, and potentially the third heatwave within four weeks after two weekends of hot conditions for much of the country in the final weeks of June, which was the hottest on record across England. "Whilst it is difficult this far ahead to determine exactly how hot things could get next week and weekend, there is the potential that some parts of the country could reach heatwave criteria," Met Office meteorologist Zoe Hutin said. A location has to hit or exceed 25C in the west and north and 28C in London and surrounding counties for three consecutive days to qualify as a heatwave. 2:17 On 9 July, temperatures are expected to reach the high 20s in the south east and potentially the low 30s on 10 July, Ms Hutin said. The hot conditions would likely continue into the weekend due to an area of high pressure building from the west before stretching across the south and drawing in warm air from the Atlantic and Azores. "Most likely it will be the south and east that see prolonged heat and thus could have another heatwave, but it is too soon to say exactly how high temperatures could get," she added. 1:58 The meteorologist said temperatures this weekend and the start of next week will be lower than recent days, with "cloudier skies prevailing and bringing spells of rain at times, especially for western areas". Temperatures are forecast to reach 25C in the south east on Saturday, 24C on Sunday and 23C on Monday. "It will be drier overall in the east, though some drizzly outbreaks are still possible on Saturday, with showers on Sunday," Ms Hutin said. A yellow weather warning for rain issued by the Met Office is in place across parts of Argyll and Bute, in Scotland, the south Highlands, Mull and Skye until Saturday afternoon. These regions could see up to 60mm of rain and more than 100mm in mountain areas. The Environment Agency has issued flood alerts in Cumbria for the rivers Duddon, Crake and Mill Beck, and other watercourses following heavy rain on Friday. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also issued six flood alerts in Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire and Arran, Easter Ross and Great Glen, Skye and Lochaber, west central Scotland and Wester Ross.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
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‘A war of the truth': Europe's heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action
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As heatwaves engulfed large swathes of Europe and North America last week – the latest in a stream of deadly extremes made worse by fossil fuel pollution – green groups are frustrated that increasingly violent weather has not spurred the urgent support for climate action they had expected. Governments across the rich world continue to roll back policies to stop the planet from heating, while far-right parties that deny climate science lash out at environment rules even as disasters unfold. Their voters, while rarely climate deniers themselves, seem to tolerate their energetic attacks on environmental policy, if not support them. The views of someone like Julie – who declined to reveal her voting preference – sounded similar to what was seen across the country, said Ed Hodgson, an analyst at the research group More in Common who has run focus groups on climate action. Polls taken over the second-last weekend of June show most people in the UK found the previous week of weather too hot, are worried it will get hotter, and hold the climate crisis at least partly responsible. But the nonprofit also found the share of people concerned about climate change has fallen over the past year, dipping from 68% to 60%. Support for the UK's target to hit net zero emissions by 2050 fell even further, plunging from 62% to 46%. 'The issue is really that there are so many other concerns now,' said Hodgson, citing the organisation's data tracking the top issues that people face each week. 'Three years ago you'd have the cost of living first, then the National Health Service, and then immigration and climate – those two would compete for third place. Now, when we do those polls, climate is near the bottom of the list.' The contradictions are visible in towns such as Stanford-le-Hope, where Julie lives, which is among the few already represented in parliament by the rightwing populist Reform UK. A YouGov poll last month found just over half of Reform voters wanted a heatwave in the coming weeks. The party, which has promised to scrap the net zero target and 'unlock Britain's vast oil and gas reserves', is projected to win eight of the 10 most flood-prone constituencies at the next general election, according to an analysis in May by the NGO Global Witness and Round Our Way, a campaign group. Far-right parties across mainland Europe have been even more vocal in using the heatwave to take aim at climate policy, even as blazing wildfires force thousands to flee their homes and doctors warn of widespread excess deaths. In Spain, where the current heatwave brought a record June temperature of 46C, the Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, mocked a government promise to regulate fear-based advertising by asking if they were also going to 'ban the propaganda of climate religion'. In Italy, which has limited outdoor work during the hottest parts of the day in most of the country, the Lega party MP Claudio Borghi said: 'Climate change has always existed, the causes are anything but clear, and the solutions are contrary to what … is correct.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion In Germany, the Alternative für Deutschland co-chair Alice Weidel shared a social media post from a climate sceptic that compared the heat on Tuesday to slightly hotter temperatures on the same day in 1952, as the country was 'clearing away the rubble of war'. The post took a swipe at the World Economic Forum, the German public broadcaster and the Green party. The biggest political row over the heat erupted in France, where the National Rally figurehead, Marine Le Pen, called for a 'major' air conditioning plan – one week after the party failed in its parliamentary push to halt new wind and solar projects. In an opinion article in Le Figaro on Thursday, the interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, a conservative, called to stop support for renewable energy and expand France's nuclear energy sector. The proposal earned rebukes from the ecology minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who described it as 'petty politics' that would write Algeria a check for oil, and the former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who called it an 'incomprehensible' misstep. 'As we endure several days of an unprecedented heatwave, we are witnessing a troubling resurgence of anti-science scepticism,' he said. Some far-right parties have focused their attention on old-school climate denial, while others have moved from questioning the science to aggressively campaigning against solutions. 'I don't think the extreme heat is being weaponised, but the efforts to limit it certainly are,' said Ciarán Cuffe, a co-chair of the European Green party and former Irish environment minister. He added that Le Pen's call for more air conditioning – which he said should be one solution among many – may even represent a shift in strategy. 'It's a recognition that these heatwaves are happening, and that they are extreme.' The paradox is that far-right parties bashing green rules are polling well above 20% in several European countries, even though the share of people who deny climate science is typically in single digits. In the UK, pollsters find just 6% of Reform voters list environmental policy as a reason for voting for the party, according to More in Common. 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'And too few of us are actively standing in the way of that.'
The Independent
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13 reported dead and more missing, including girls from a summer camp, after catastrophic Texas flooding
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