UK braces for hottest June day ahead of red heat alerts

The UK is likely to experience its hottest June day on record, with temperatures forecast to rise above 35C (95F).

The highest temperature of about 36C is expected around Greater London on Tuesday. If reached, it would exceed the highest June temperature previously recorded of 35.6C in 1976.

The heat is expected to build further in the week, with temperatures of up to 39/40Cforecast in England on Wednesday.

A red extreme heat warning has been issued across parts of England and Wales from Wednesday morning to Thursday evening, meaning there is a danger to life.

At least 312 schools across England and Wales are at least partially closed over the next three days because of the hot weather.

Others are also closing early on Wednesday and Thursday to protect children from the heat, with some pupils being told they can wear PE kit rather than full school uniforms for those days.

The rare warning is in place from 09:00 BST on Wednesday to 21:00 Thursday, meaning there will be an exceptional spell of hot and humid weather in parts of south and central England and south Wales, according to the Met Office.

The forecaster warns that there is risk of serious illness or danger to life in the impacted areas, with loss of power and other essential services such as water also likely, due to a greater risk of failure of heat-sensitive systems and equipment.

Significantly more people are likely to visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers, leading to an increased risk of water safety incidents, it says.

There will also be travel disruption for those travelling by car, rail and air, it warns.

A red heat health alert has also been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), from 01:00 on Wednesday until 23:00 on Thursday.

Prof Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, said this was only the second time they had issued the red heat health warning, the last time being during a July 2022 heatwave.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said the warning "signals a very widespread threat" from the heat, including threats to transport and supply systems, but also "to people who generally think of themselves as not being particularly threatened by heat".

"Often we are warning about the vulnerable, the elderly, the young, but in this case we're also warning otherwise healthy people in their prime of life to take very cautious steps, because this heat is going to be quite intense and can have very serious life threatening effects even in people who are completely fit," he said.

Statistics show people aged 75 and over accounted for around nine in 10 heat-related deaths in England last summer, UKHSA has said.

"This is a dangerous time for older people, when it is this hot," Age UK health policy manager Jenny Lippiatt told the PA news agency.

Lippiatt asked people to look out for the older people around them and to be aware of typical symptoms for heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Less severe amber weather warnings are in place until Thursday for parts of south and central England and parts of Wales.

On Tuesday the mercury will hit 28 to 30C across northern England and Wales, while for the Midlands, eastern and southern England, it willwidely exceed 33C.

Temperatures will be higher in some parts of the south Midlands and Greater London, with highs of 36 or 37C expected.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, it will also turn warmer, reaching 24 to 27C.

The Met Office said the Dew Point - a measure of how humid the air is, and how much water it's holding - could rise to 22C. This is far higher than the single figures recorded during the record-breaking heatwave of July 2022.

The humidity level will make temperatures feel five degrees warmer than the reading on the thermometer.

Tuesday's hot and humid weather was prefaced by thunderstorms in the early hours, with some 29,000 lightning strikes recorded in the south, the Met Office said.

The storms caused flash flooding and travel disruption across parts of England, with the London Fire Brigade reporting that it responded to 400 calls overnight, including two house fires believed to have been caused by the lightning strikes.

Another house fire in Bristol was also believed to be caused by the lightning, according to Avon Fire and Rescue Service.

There was flooding and power outages in south-west England, with hundreds of homes in Shepton Mallet, Glastonbury and Bristol briefly without power on Monday evening due to the weather, according to the National Grid.

London's transport network was severely impacted on Tuesday morning, with flooding bringing services on the Elizabeth Line to a stop between Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 and Heathrow Terminal 4, according to Transport for London.

The Mildmay Line was also running a reduced service due to the hot weather.

On the national rail network, passengers have been urged against undertaking non-essential travel and to make sure they are carrying water if they are making a necessary journey.

Avanti West Coast said it would run fewer train services between Tuesday and Thursday, while Chiltern Railways has reduced its services by more than half over those three days.

The RAC said it is anticipating breakdown assistance will "increase significantly as temperatures peak", adding that it was already dealing with 10% more breakdowns than usual for this time of year.

Matthew Hopkins of the acute and ambulance network for the NHS alliance told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he expected demand on emergency services to increase over the next few days during the extremely hot weather period.

The heat is spreading from continental Europe where an extremely intense hot spell has developed.

Last night was the hottest night recorded in France since measurements began in 1947, according to France's official weather forecaster.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of France, Sébastien Lecornu, said 40 people had drowned in France since the start of the heatwave last Thursday.

"These are mainly young people," he said at a crisis meeting for ministers.

The immediate cause of the heatwave is a "heat dome" - an area of high pressure that becomes "stuck", trapping warm air underneath it.

While it is difficult to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, scientists say climate change makes heatwaves more frequent and more intense.

Over the last 30 years, Europe has been warming by 0.56C per decade, according to the Copernicus climate service - enough to make heat extremes significantly more severe.

The UN warned on Thursday that global average temperatures were likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years.

The 11 hottest years ever recorded all happened from 2015 onwards, and the UN's weather and climate agency said this trend was predicted to continue, with a new hottest-ever year "likely" before 2031.