Another heatwave is brewing in parts of the UK as temperatures begin to rise in the coming days, the Met Office has said.
Temperatures in some areas could reach the low to mid 30s (at least 86 degrees Fahrenheit) late next week as an area of high pressure from the Atlantic moves south and southwest of England.
Although many areas of the UK, and particularly in the south, will experience temperatures several degrees above average, Met Office chief meteorologist Steve Willington said the hot season is likely to be “well below average record that we saw in mid-July.” ,” when thermometers soared above 40ºC in some places.
The weather is set to turn “increasingly warmer” in the south from Saturday, with the mercury expected to reach 29C (84F) in London on Wednesday and into the mid-20s across much of southern England and parts of Wales.
To be qualified as a heat wave, temperatures must reach 28ºC in London and 25ºC in much of the rest of the country, for three consecutive days.
There is little relief on the horizon for parched areas of southern England, which are bracing for drought after extremely dry conditions, with almost no rain forecast. But wet weather is expected in north-west England.
Britain’s average temperatures are expected to continue rising in the future amid global warming, but it is harder to predict how rainfall will respond to the island nation.
Scientists say the country could become wetter in winter, but rain would be concentrated on fewer days and the south and east could continue to dry. But these projections are uncertain.
Although drought is not likely to occur more frequently in the coming decades, it is expected to become more frequent in the second half of this century.
Demand for water often increases when temperatures rise as consumers water gardens and fill swimming pools.
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1.45pm Hotter temperatures are the ‘new normal’ for the UK, says the Met Office’s State of the Climate report.
The Met Office said the weather conditions that will bring next week’s heat wave are different from those that inflicted up to 40.3 degrees Celsius last month. July’s unprecedented heat fueled intense wildfires, snapped train tracks, melted roads and saw children sent home from school.
The heat intensified in July as warm air traveling from southern Europe added to “our own home-grown heat” in the UK, said Rebekah Sherwin, deputy chief meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
“This time, that is much less likely; instead, temperatures will rise steadily in the persistent area of high pressure,” he explained.
August temperatures are also usually lower than July because the sun is lower and the daylight hours are slightly shorter.
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