For millions of people trying to get home after another blazing hot day, the prospect of train delays and cancellations added to the stress – and temperatures are unlikely to cool significantly until Sunday, with severe thunderstorms already battering northern parts of the country.
Friday was the third consecutive day the UK’s record for the hottest June day was broken, the Met Office confirmed, with a provisional temperature of 37.3°C recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk. That smashed the previous high of 36.7°C set on Thursday in Merryfield, Somerset, and surpassed the long-standing record from the summer of 1976 by more than 1°C – a significant margin, given such records are usually broken by only a fraction of a degree.
“UK records third consecutive hottest June day with 37.3°C, sparking health warnings and travel chaos”
Scientists warned the heatwave would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, with human-driven climate change fuelling more intense and frequent extreme heat events.
The amber weather warning for heat was extended until 9am on Sunday across the south and east of England, meaning “population-wide adverse health effects”, power losses and travel delays should be expected, with “substantial changes” to daily routines required.
The extreme heat prompted disruption from hospital services to workplace logistics. At Wembley, Harry Styles sparked concern when he choked on water and collapsed to the ground while performing during the 37C heatwave. Meanwhile, more than 800 flights in and out of Gatwick and Heathrow were delayed by up to 11 hours or cancelled due to stormy weather on Friday night. NATS, the UK’s air traffic control service, said “weather disruption was expected to continue through the rest of the day” after “forecasted severe weather across the south east of England”.
The heat has also taken a toll on mental health. Google searches for ‘seasonal affective disorder’ soared by 285% over the past 24 hours, and Dr Corné Hurter, Medical Director for Services and Delivery at AXA Health, called on the nation to identify the key signs of ‘summer SAD’. “While summer SAD is less common than its winter counterpart, prolonged periods of hot weather can affect mental wellbeing in a number of ways,” Dr Hurter said. “Heat can disrupt sleep, increase physical stress on the body and interfere with normal daily routines, all of which may contribute to symptoms associated with summer SAD in some individuals.”
The hot and humid conditions are set to continue in parts of the country over the weekend, though Saturday’s peak temperatures will be lower, topping out at around 32°C in the far south-east. “Next week is likely to see a change to more of a westerly influence on the UK’s weather, with a return to more average temperatures for the time of year and a mixture of winds and rain, particularly for those in the north-west,” a Met Office spokesperson said.