A teenage boy is dead after entering a lake in Leicestershire on what became the hottest June day in UK history – a record broken for the third consecutive day.
Police recovered a body from Meynell Lake, Syston, just after 1.30pm on Thursday, following reports that a teenage boy had gone into the water. The tragedy unfolded as temperatures across the country soared, with a provisional reading of 37.3C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, surpassing Thursday’s high of 36.7C in Merryfield, Somerset, which itself had broken Wednesday’s record. The Met Office said Friday’s record was the third time this week the June maximum had been topped.
“Teenager dies after entering lake on hottest June day as UK records 37.3C for third day running.”
A rare red warning for extreme heat remained in place for parts of south-east and central southern England up to Oxfordshire until 21:00, where temperatures could reach 35-37C. The warning, accompanied by high humidity, was extended into Friday, although the zone where there is a potential danger to life was reduced. An amber warning stretched across the Midlands and East Anglia, where temperatures were still likely to reach the low 30s. Meanwhile, cooler weather began moving in from the west, but thunderstorm warnings were issued across the rest of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The heatwave’s impact on health services was severe. The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital became the fifth trust to declare a critical incident, saying the extreme heat and humidity was affecting its ability to deliver services. A hosepipe ban was in force in Kent. More than 63,000 lightning strikes were recorded over the past 24 hours, one of which caused a fire after striking a nursing home in Glastonbury. Passengers in Edinburgh were forced to flee an early-morning train after a lightning strike, and a tram in Sheffield was taken out of service after being hit.
Overnight, many parts of southern England and Wales endured temperatures widely above 20C, with a ‘tropical night’ experienced widely. The highest minimum temperature – 23.5C in Cardiff – from Wednesday night into Thursday remained the record for June. Scientists warned that this heatwave would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, with human-driven climate change fuelling more intense extreme heat events. The search for the missing teenager ended in tragedy, as the UK sweltered through a week that will be remembered for broken records and lost life.