In what climate experts described as a “bleak milestone”, the previous record temperature of 38.7C was first recorded at Charlwood in Surrey before midday and was then overtaken by Heathrow, which broke the 40C mark on 12 :50 p.m. Until 4 p.m. at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, the thermometer read 40.3C – 1.6C higher than the previous high of 2019, which was exceeded in at least 34 locations across the country. Record-breaking hot temperatures spark fires across England – video Overnight on Monday, a record overnight temperature of 25.9C was set at Emley Moor, West Yorkshire, easily beating the previous daily minimum of 23.9C recorded in Brighton in 1990. Fire services in London, Leicestershire, Norfolk and South Yorkshire were among those declaring major incidents as the blaze destroyed buildings and ravaged dry fields in Wennington, east London, grasslands elsewhere in the capital and Groby, Leicestershire . Emergency services are battling fires at a number of houses in Wennington, England. Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images Thirty fire crews tackled a grass fire in Upminster which sent smoke billowing up the M25. In the West Midlands, firefighters tackled a blaze at Lickey Hills Country Park near Bromsgrove, leaving scorched earth and skeletal trees. A major incident is defined as having “serious consequences” and requiring a specialized response from one or more emergency response agencies. Households in south-east England were told to save water by turning off washing machines and farmers warned that the drought was hitting livestock. Experts have estimated that nearly 1,000 people are likely to die as a result of the current heatwave, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday. Such a tally would be higher than the average of excess heat-related mortality over the entire summer recorded from 2000 to 2019, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said. Huge fire breaks out next to motorway in Dartford Heath after temperatures soar – video The Met Office’s head of science, Professor Stephen Belcher, warned: “If we continue with a high emissions scenario, we could see temperatures like this every three years… The only way to stabilize the climate is to get to net zero… soon.” . Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, said this week’s red warning for extreme heat was “a wake-up call to the climate emergency”. “If record-breaking extreme weather events and energy price shocks affecting everyone don’t convince our leaders that some serious policy strengthening is needed, then I don’t know what will,” he said. As thousands of people in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North East were left without power after transmission equipment overheated, Dr Sam Fankhauser, professor of climate economics at Oxford University, said the heat was “a stark reminder of the … urgent need to reduce global carbon emissions’. Nine of the UK’s 12 hottest days since 1884 have now occurred in the past two decades. Boris Johnson, who has been accused by the Labor Party of “controlling” his work, compared the government’s response to the heat wave to the Covid pandemic, saying he was seeking to “balance the risk with the need to keep our country, our society and economy in motion”. . At the latest cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said: “We need to keep schools open and our transport system going as far as we can in these high temperatures and keep our fantastic NHS for the people of this country.” A No 10 spokesman said: “With record temperatures in this country, the Prime Minister said no one could dispute that we were right to be the first major economy to go net zero.” Johnson later tweeted his thanks to “all the firefighters and frontline services working incredibly hard to keep us safe on this hot day.” Fire breaks out at Birmingham golf course amid UK heat wave – video As Britain sweltered, Scotland recorded a new record temperature of 34.8C (1.9C above the previous high of 2003) and hospitals cut back on scheduled surgeries and installed cooling units for IT server rooms. The East of England Ambulance Service said emergency calls were being made, an A road was bent like a “painter park” and the East Midlands and East Coast main lines were closed due to the heat. Trains out of Euston, London were disrupted by a trackside fire, with the blaze ignited when 25,000 volt overhead power lines came down. Birmingham New Street was also closed to all trains due to damaged overhead power lines. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, admitted it would take decades to make the infrastructure resilient enough to cope with the warming climate. “There’s a long process of replacing it and upgrading it to withstand temperatures, either very hot or sometimes much colder than we’re used to, and those are the effects of global warming,” he said. Cooler weather was on the way on Tuesday afternoon, with showers moving across England, although the Met Office said the air was so dry that very little was reaching the ground. Storms were expected in parts of northern England and southern Scotland. Further rain is expected in parts of southern, south-east and eastern England on Wednesday, with warnings of possible flooding and lightning. A 14-year-old boy and a man in his 20s became the fifth and sixth people to die since Saturday after water problems. Scotland Yard said the boy was seen walking into the Thames at Hampton in south-west London and his body was recovered from the river in Richmond. The man died at Cotswold Water Park. Another swimmer was missing in the sea at Clacton Pier in Essex and five others were pulled from the water. The Royal Life Saving Society urged people to swim in supervised areas and the National Council of Fire Chiefs added: “Jumping in to swim can lead to cold water shock and accidental drowning, regardless of swimming ability.”
