Britain’s first 40C day will happen sooner or later, but there is still time to stop such temperatures becoming regular events
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s feeling pretty hot in the UK. The Met Office has issued a rare, amber, extreme heat warning and we have a level 3 heat-health alert in place – just one level below a national emergency. Extreme heat is often referred to as a silent killer. Its impact is not as immediately obvious as after storms or floods, yet in the UK approximately 2,500 people died due to heat-related illness in 2020, a worrying figure as extreme heat becomes increasingly common. Earlier this year, the Met Office raised the threshold for what counts as a heatwave in some parts of the UK – and yet these events continue to happen with increasing frequency.
The problem isn’t confined to the UK. Mainland Europe is experiencing its third major heatwave this year, with temperatures hitting a blistering 47C in parts of Spain. Many parts of Europe suffered an unusually dry spring, leading to widespread drought conditions, and increasing the chances of wildfires during periods of extreme heat – as Portugal is now experiencing.
