After three days of blistering heat that shattered June records, the UK is finally bracing for a cooldown. A provisional temperature of 37.3C was recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Friday, the Met Office confirmed, making it the hottest June day on record — the third consecutive day a new high had been set. Earlier in the week, Wattisham in Suffolk hit 36.9C, and Cavendish reached 37.1C. But the stifling heat is about to give way to cooler, unsettled weather sweeping in from the Atlantic.
A rare red warning for extreme heat remained in place for London, the South East and South West of England until 9pm on Friday, while an amber warning covered much of the rest of the country until midnight on Saturday. The Met Office warned that the extreme heat posed a danger to life, even for healthy people. The London Ambulance Service responded to its highest ever number of life-threatening emergencies in a single day this week, and at least three hospitals declared critical incidents. Schools were forced to close, and some hospital machinery failed in the heat.
“UK's record-breaking June heatwave ends as temperatures set to drop over weekend.”
Yet while the south-east sweltered, the north was battered by ferocious thunderstorms. More than 63,000 lightning strikes were recorded over 24 hours, the Met Office said. A nursing home in Glastonbury caught fire after being struck by lightning, and in Edinburgh passengers fled an early-morning train after a terrifying strike. A tram in Sheffield was taken out of service after being hit, and the city’s tram network was suspended. Firefighters battled a huge wildfire on Tintwistle Moor in Derbyshire, where smouldering ground kept crews dampening the area.
The heatwave took a tragic turn when police confirmed that a body discovered in a Leicestershire lake was that of a missing teenager last seen entering the water. Meanwhile, a search continued for a 15-year-old boy who vanished at a Hampshire lake.
Cooler air is finally set to move across the whole of the UK this weekend, according to BBC Weather. Westerly winds and a weak cold front will sweep fresher air from the Atlantic by Sunday. Saturday will remain hot in the east and south-east, with temperatures in the high twenties or low thirties, but Sunday marks the end of the heatwave for all. Weather fronts will bring cloud and scattered showers, with temperatures dropping to the low twenties in England and Wales, and the mid to high teens in Scotland and Northern Ireland. “There will be relief at last from the extreme heat,” the forecast said.
While two UK heatwaves have already occurred this year, resulting in new national monthly records, there is still a whole lot more summer to go. But for now, the mercury is finally falling.