Key events:
Show only key events
Please enable JavaScript to use this feature
The Met Office has tweeted an infographic showing the hottest days in the UK. The first place goes to the 38.7 ° C recorded in Cambridgeshire in 2019, followed by the 38.5 ° C in Kent in 2003, the same year that many died in France due to the heat wave.
All but three temperatures have been since 2000, and two of the others are from the 1990s, except for an unusually hot day in 1911, when mercury rose to 36.7 ºC in Northamptonshire (this famous journalistic cliché is especially justified here, as mercury thermometers were probably in use at the time).
Train services may not return to normal on Wednesday, Network Rail says
Network Rail spokesman Jake Kelly has warned that services that will return to normal on Wednesday “will depend on the weather damage to infrastructure” over Monday and Tuesday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Kelly said:
Our very strong advice to customers in England and Wales today and tomorrow is to travel only if absolutely essential, and expect very low train and delay service.
And of course, as your listeners heard, on the main east coast line, this is the route from London to destinations like Peterborough, Leeds and York, tomorrow, unfortunately, there will be no train service and passengers would not to travel.
We haven’t made any of these decisions lightly, but we haven’t faced these exceptional temperatures before.
We are spending hundreds of millions of pounds a year to make the railway more resilient, but ultimately, in the face of the weather like never before, the infrastructure will suffer, so we have had to put in place arrangements.
We look forward and expect to have a full service on Wednesday and beyond, but that will depend on the weather damage to the infrastructure over the next few days. We have a lot of plans in place to make sure we can run.
Updated at 08.53 BST
Labor leader Lisa Nandy has accused Boris Johnson and his ministers of being “switched off” during the UK’s first red extreme heat warning.
The shadow secretary told Sky News:
We believe that the government should do several things: first is to go to work.
He said the prime minister has “clearly stopped”, adding: “And so have many of his ministers in his government.”
Nandy said there should be a dedicated minister in the Cabinet Office to coordinate an emergency response and urged Whitehall to work with local areas to ensure there are resilience plans to end the approach. current “patchwork”.
Updated at 08.48 BST
Cabinet Minister Kit Malthouse spoke about the UK government’s plans for heat in the emission rounds this morning.
He told LBC Radio that “people should do the neighborhood” and check on the elderly who live nearby to “check that they are well, that they have access to water, that they are kept cool and cared for.”
There are likely to be “significant disruptions” to the transportation network and people should “think about working from home” if they are able to, he added.
He defended the government’s response, saying that the Cobra meetings “assure us that we are ready and then we can communicate a sensible message of public safety.”
He said it was a “very unfair criticism” to attack Boris Johnson for not attending Cobra meetings during the heat wave. He said it was “literally my job” to chair Cobra, and Johnson “appoints secretaries of state to do that kind of work and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Malthouse said France had a heat wave in 2003 and that “thousands of elderly people died” so the UK could “learn from it”. We are not used to this kind of heat and we just have to make sure we are prudent and moderate and take care for the next 48 hours ”.
Updated at 08.49 BST
If you’re wondering how to stay cool today, here are some expert tips:
- Close the curtains and windows It may seem contrary to intuition, but if fresh air enters the house at night, close the windows when the outside temperature exceeds the inside temperature, you will catch the cooler air inside. Right now, for example, London is 25ºC, so keep them open, but you may want to close them around noon when the temperature exceeds 30ºC. Reopen the windows when the weather cools down at night; keep in mind that the temperature will not drop below 30ºC in many places until after 23:00. Similarly, remove the curtains in front of any sun-facing window, although dark curtains and metal blinds can absorb heat; ideally, replace them or place reflective material between them and the window. Turn off any equipment that produces heat, such as electrical devices. Note that electric fans are only useful below 35C.
- Stay out of the sun Try to avoid being in the sun during the hottest part of the day, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you go out, wear sunscreen, stick in the shade, bring water with you, and wear light, loose-fitting clothing and a hat.
- Don’t try too hard Avoid intense exercise or physical activity during the hottest parts of the day and be careful at all times over the next few days. Medical experts have advised you to adapt your behavior, including taking more breaks and making sure you drink plenty of water.
- Use water The WHO suggests hanging wet towels inside the rooms; although this can increase humidity, it helps cool the air as the water evaporates. A cool shower or bath, cold compresses, foot baths or just a splash of water can also help.
- Watch out for others. Watch out for anyone who may be vulnerable – babies, children, people with cardiovascular disease, or the elderly. The Heatwave Plan for England also urges people to be alert “and call a doctor or social services if someone is not well or needs more help”. Know the signs of a heat stroke, which can appear quickly and be fatal: headache, malaise, dizziness and confusion, excessive sweating, loss of appetite, cramps in the arms, legs and stomach, rapid pulse and feeling very thirsty .
Deputy Medical Director Thomas Waite told GMB this morning:
If you see someone who is experiencing these symptoms, put them in the cool, put them in the shade, give them some liquid to rehydrate, it can be water, it can be sports drinks or rehydration fluids, and most of people will recover well. in about 30 minutes or so.
You can read more here:
Updated at 08.53 BST
Rachel Hall
Good morning.
The UK is preparing for the hottest day in history, with temperatures forecast to exceed 40ºC. High temperatures will be maintained for the next two days, causing widespread disruption, as passengers are asked not to travel by train, as the rails may break with the heat and some schools will close.
The UK Health Safety Agency has launched its first level four heat warning to communicate to the public the danger posed by sustained high temperatures, meaning that “illness and death can occur between people in fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups. ” ”.
The UK, and other European countries, have been seeing heat waves with record temperatures regularly over the past few years. Scientists have said the link between extreme heat waves from climate change is now clear.
I will keep you up to date on the latest interruptions, along with weather analysis and tips to keep you cool for the rest of the day. Please contact us if there is anything in your local area or if you have detected anything that we have missed; you can contact me at rachel.hall@theguardian.com.