Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / What is a red heat warning and where will it hit in the UK

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What is a red heat warning and where will it hit in the UK · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Hello, there. An intense heat wave will be developing this week,
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  Speaker 1: affecting many parts of the UK, and the UK Met
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  Speaker 1: Office has now issued are very rare red weather warning
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  Speaker 1: for extreme heat on Wednesday and Thursday, affecting many parts
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  Speaker 1: of central southern eastern areas of England into East Wales too.
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  Speaker 1: I'll show you the warning area in just a moment,
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  Speaker 1: but temperatures within the warning area could reach as high
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  Speaker 1: as thirty eight to maybe forty degrees celsius and those
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  Speaker 1: extreme temperatures by day will be followed by some very
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  Speaker 1: warm and humid feeling nights too. Now, these red warnings
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  Speaker 1: are very unusual. This is only the second red extreme
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  Speaker 1: heat warning ever issued by the Met Office. The last
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  Speaker 1: was back in July twenty twenty two when we broke
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  Speaker 1: the all time UK national temperature records and temperatures got
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  Speaker 1: as high as forty points three degrees celsius. And they
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  Speaker 1: should be taken very seriously as well. So they mean
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  Speaker 1: a danger to life these red warnings, So this is
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  Speaker 1: not just for people vulnerable to the heat, but it's
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  Speaker 1: for the entire population within that red warning area. You
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  Speaker 1: should take action to keep cool and just be aware
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  Speaker 1: too that the heat could also impact not just people
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  Speaker 1: in health, but power and infrastructure as well. Now the
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  Speaker 1: heat has been building over the last couple of days
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  Speaker 1: or so, and there's already a slightly lower level Amber
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  Speaker 1: weather warning issued by the Met Office on Monday and
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. On Sunday, temperatures in Heathrow reach nearly thirty
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  Speaker 1: two degrees celsius. In London and parts of the Southeast,
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  Speaker 1: we could expect to see perhaps thirty two to thirty
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  Speaker 1: four degrees celsius on Monday, and these temperatures could be
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  Speaker 1: even higher, perhaps as highest thirty six celsius in parts
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  Speaker 1: of London and the Home Counties as we head through
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  Speaker 1: Tuesday as well. In this Amber warning covers a wide
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  Speaker 1: area all the way up to parts of Lincolnshire, down
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  Speaker 1: through the Midlands, eastern Wales and parts of southwest England
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  Speaker 1: as well, where the temperatures will be extremely higher, expecting
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  Speaker 1: some tropical nights that is, when the temperature by night
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  Speaker 1: doesn't drop below twenty degrees celsius, say very little time
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  Speaker 1: to recover that extreme heat by day, and of course
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  Speaker 1: homes workplaces will all be heating up. You're advised, of
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  Speaker 1: course to keep out of the midday sun and keep cool,
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  Speaker 1: to keep hydrated, and just to be aware of vulnerable
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  Speaker 1: people in the area where you live, and of course
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  Speaker 1: be aware of all kinds of restrictions regarding open water.
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  Speaker 1: This is the red warning area now. This warning is
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  Speaker 1: valid from nine o'clock on Wednesday through until nine o'clock
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  Speaker 1: in the evening on Thursday. As you can see, it
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  Speaker 1: encompasses several cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff down through Oxford,
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  Speaker 1: also the London area as well. Temperatures within the warning
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  Speaker 1: area could get as high as thirty eight to forty
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  Speaker 1: degrees celsius. Now worth noting back when we last got
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  Speaker 1: to forty degrees celsius, of course, in that record breaking
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  Speaker 1: heat of July twenty twenty two, then it wasn't quite
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  Speaker 1: as humid as we're expecting in this current warm spell.
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  Speaker 1: So it's going to feel perhaps even warmer, certainly very
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  Speaker 1: muggy and very sticky with it, and that muggy air
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  Speaker 1: is set to last as we head throughout the week
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  Speaker 1: as well. Where are we're getting all of this warm
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  Speaker 1: air from where it's been very hot across Western Europe.
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  Speaker 1: There's a large are of high pressure just sitting over
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  Speaker 1: us at the moment, slightly towards the east, and that's
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  Speaker 1: just keeping a lid on all of that hot air.
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  Speaker 1: The ground is also very dry, so the energy, the
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  Speaker 1: heat energy from the sun is heating the ground and
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  Speaker 1: then the ground is not really evaporating any water because
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  Speaker 1: it's so dry, so it's just heating the air. And
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  Speaker 1: that's where we take the air temperature from. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: as you can see here, we're drawing in a southerly winds,
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  Speaker 1: just ushering all of that warm air from western Europe,
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  Speaker 1: where records have been broken across western France, temperatures could
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  Speaker 1: get as high as forty two to forty four degrees celsius. Here,
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  Speaker 1: we could get to forty one celsius perhaps in Paris
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  Speaker 1: over the next couple of days, and as you can
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  Speaker 1: see on our temperature anominally map here many temperatures that
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  Speaker 1: are around fifteen degrees celsius above where they would normally
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  Speaker 1: be at this time of year, and that now includes
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  Speaker 1: the UK as we head through the next a few
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  Speaker 1: days as well. So there's some very warm air coming
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  Speaker 1: up from Europe. We're expecting temperatures to be broken. Now
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  Speaker 1: meteorology we often talk about temperatures being broken by perhaps
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  Speaker 1: the tenth of a degree, but this time we're expecting
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  Speaker 1: the June UK record, the all time record set fifty
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  Speaker 1: years ago, to be absolutely smashed. If we get to
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  Speaker 1: thirty eight, thirty nine, or perhaps forty degrees on Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: or on Thursday, then this temperature record is going to
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  Speaker 1: be broken by several degrees at least, so very significant
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  Speaker 1: temperature broken. Then, of course it comes on the back
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  Speaker 1: of that May heat wave, when again it was record breaking,
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  Speaker 1: smashing the record by a good couple of degrees or so,
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  Speaker 1: these records being absolutely obliterated now and I just want
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  Speaker 1: to point out the Whales June record to thirty three
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  Speaker 1: point seven celsius set in two thousand. Now it's quite
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  Speaker 1: likely that we could get to thirty seven or thirty
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  Speaker 1: eight degrees celsius in Ardiff on Thursday. That would not
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  Speaker 1: just break the June record, but it would also break
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  Speaker 1: the all time Welsh record, which will set back in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. So that is a very sobering possibility.
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  Speaker 1: And of course June is not our hottest month. That
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  Speaker 1: comes in July and the first couple of weeks of August,
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  Speaker 1: but it is the month when we've got the sun
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  Speaker 1: in the sky for longest of course, but plenty of
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  Speaker 1: time still for things to get even hotter perhaps this summer.
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  Speaker 1: And what we're saying is that with man May climate change,
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  Speaker 1: then our heat waves are likely to become much more
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  Speaker 1: intense and they will become more frequent too. Just as
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  Speaker 1: an decide when is the heat going to eventually calm down? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it does look like it's going to be a bit
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  Speaker 1: cooler on Friday, but it's still across central southeastern areas
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  Speaker 1: of England we could expect see temperatures in the low thirties.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see westerly winds develop over the weekend that will
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  Speaker 1: draw into some fresher Atlantic air, so temperatures will be
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  Speaker 1: coming down and it's a bit more unsettled. But temperature
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  Speaker 1: is still above the average as we head into next week,
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  Speaker 1: so it's still going to feel warm, but just not
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  Speaker 1: as hot as it is this week. Keep an eye
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  Speaker 1: on everything, of course on the BBC Weather app and
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  Speaker 1: the BBC Weather website, but just a reminder of where
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  Speaker 1: it expecting those intense temperatures to develop as we head
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  Speaker 1: through the middle part of the week. Take care