Amber weather warning for extreme heat in Grantham issued by Met Office as UK braces for more hot weather
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for extreme heat in Grantham and much of the UK from this Thursday as temperatures are set to rise again.
With the mercury in to hit as high as 31C in Grantham over the weekend, the weather warning is in place for the south of England, the Midlands and parts of Wales.
The warning has been issued for four days from midnight on Thursday to 23.59pm on Sunday, saying that adverse health effects are likely to be suffered by some vulnerable people.
Temperatures are expected to slowly rise from 28C on Tuesday to 29C for the rest of the working week before rising to 31C for Saturday and Sunday
The temperatures will not reach the record-breaking UK high of 40.3C temperatures of July which was confirmed in Lincolnshire.
The weather is not set to last as Monday is forecast to bring rain showers, with temperature dropping back down into the low 20s.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Rudman said: “Thanks to persistent high pressure over the UK, temperatures will be rising day-on-day through this week and an extreme heat warning has been issued.
“Temperatures are expected to peak at 35C on Friday and Saturday, or even an isolated 36C on Saturday. Elsewhere will see temperatures widely into the high 20s and low 30s Celsius.
“Coupled with the high daytime temperatures there will be some warm nights, with temperatures expected not to drop below the low 20s Celsius for some areas in the south.”
The latest heatwave coming after months of low rain which have left the countryside and urban parks and gardens tinder-dry.
The Met Office’s fire severity index (FSI), an assessment of how severe a fire could become if one were to start, is very high for most of England and Wales, and will reach “exceptional” for a swathe of England by the weekend.
Scientists warn that the likelihood of droughts occurring is becoming higher due to climate change, driven by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and other human activities.