Temperatures are set to soar again this week and could reach heatwave levels, bringing sleepless nights and potential travel disruption.
The UK has hardly recovered from the gruelling June hot spell when another warm weather front is set to land.
Temperatures could rise up to 34C during this week’s warm front, which has gripped the US over the July 4 weekend, killing at least 25 people as the heat dome brought over 38C in eastern parts of the country.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued yellow heat health alerts, covering London, South East, South West, East of England and East and West Midlands until Saturday.
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Soaring temperatures could cause a higher risk to life to vulnerable people, and have a minor impact on health and social care services due to more demand.
The Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: ‘We have got a heatwave on the way across parts of southern England and Wales, temperatures are already quite high across the south-east today. We could get 28C in London.
‘Elsewhere, it’s not as hot as we have got temperatures closer to average, but they will climb as we go into next week. The northern areas of the country will be cloudier with spells of rain at times, so there’s a north-south split.
‘At the start of next week, we will see temperatures approach the low 30s.’
A week of tropical nights
Londoners and large parts of the south face a week of tropical nights as temperatures could stay well above 20C even after dusk until at least Saturday.
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Hot weather is expected to hamper travel this week, with National Rail warning of disruption on the railways, which happened during the June heatwave as passengers faced timetable changes and issues with broken trains.
National Rail said: ‘The forecast weather may cause trains to be disrupted. Heat can cause overhead lines to expand and sag, line-side fires and also rails to buckle.’
The good news is that this week’s mini heatwave is not expected to hit quite as hard and humid as the June scorcher, which saw large parts of England being placed under a rare extreme heat warning.
A provisional new record high of 37.7C was clocked at Lingwood, Strumpshaw Hill on June 26.
Mitchell said: ‘The peak of the heat appears to be Thursday or Friday: 34C in the south-east. By comparison to the heatwave we saw in June, this heatwave won’t be as hot and humid, but it will be a prolonged spell of hot weather which lasts around a week.’
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