Heatwave alert level increased in England

[jinftl]

From BBC:


Heatwave alert level increases

The Met Office has raised its heatwave alert level in parts of England, as hot and humid conditions look set to continue until Friday.

London and the South East are now on Level 3 of four, with temperatures set to reach at least 32C (89.6F).

The Department of Health has issued special advice for the elderly and other people at risk from the heat.

Other areas are cooler and heavy rain is moving into Scotland, Wales, and south-west and northern England.

Thunderstorms in Tyne and Wear and Cumbria caused flash floods on Wednesday, with up to 500 lightning strikes recorded across the region in just a few hours.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings of heavy rain for the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, northern England and south-west Scotland and the Borders.

Wet weather is also forecast in Wales and south-western England on Thursday.

It is the first time the Met Office has issued a Level 3 heatwave alert since June 2006.

It occurs when temperatures reach a certain threshold - which vary by region - and are sustained in one or more regions over two nights and the intervening day, with a forecast of higher temperatures to come.

The Met Office said a key factor in raising the alert had been night-time temperatures, with some areas not falling below 18C.

The highest heatwave level - Level 4 - is classed as "red emergency".

It is reached when heat is so severe that illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups.

Met Office spokeswoman Sarah Holland said: "We are expecting temperatures in London and the South East to reach 31-32C today and on Thursday they might reach 33C.

"After that we are expecting temperatures to come down and by the weekend it should be a lot cooler."

On Tuesday, the government's health advice line NHS Direct took a total of 318 calls from members of the public complaining about sunburn, heat-exhaustion, breathing difficulties and other heat-related ailments.

[Ed Mahmoud]

29º at Heathrow is WARMER than HOU, 28º at 8 am.

It is afternoon there.


But anything pushing 90ºF (32º) is way warmer than they are used to, and I doubt too many British have central AC.

Hot in Texas and Southern Britain, the year without a Summer (so far) in New England.

Interesting year for weather.

[jinftl]

Did you catch the excerpt from the article above where it says nighttime temps did not drop below 18C in some areas....that's the mid-60s. What we would give for those kind of temps in the south right about now! It's all very realtive....some areas are just not accustomed to heat, cold, etc.

29º at Heathrow is WARMER than HOU, 28º at 8 am.

It is afternoon there.


But anything pushing 90ºF (32º) is way warmer than they are used to, and I doubt too many British have central AC.

Hot in Texas and Southern Britain, the year without a Summer (so far) in New England.

Interesting year for weather.

[tropicana]

London Heathrow Actual Temperatures in the past week:-
(since i keep records of these kinds of things lol...)

Wed Jun 24 High 25.2C 77F Low 11.7C 53F
Thu Jun 25 High 28.0C 82F Low 13.4C 56F
Fri Jun 26 High 24.0C 75F Low 15.8C 60F
Sat Jun 27 High 27.3C 81F Low 14.7C 59F
Sun Jun 28 High 27.6C 82F Low 14.8C 59F
Mon Jun 29 High 30.8C 87F Low 17.7C 64F
Tue Jun 30 High 31.2C 88F Low 17.1C 63F
Wed Jul 1 High 30.9C 88F Low 17.1C 63F
Thu Jul 2 High 30.6C 87F Low 14.9C 59F

-justin-

[jinftl]

thanks for info...wow...a heatwave alert at level 3 (out of 4) with those nighttime temps is boggling yet understandable given the location and what is 'normal'....those low temps here in south florida have a name....chilly. Even with no a/c, there has to be some relief provided by keeping the windows open at night with low temps like that...and those low temps mean that the dewpoints couldn't have been above the 50s to low 60s...not terribly humid....but again, it is all relative...when it gets below 40F (5C) here on one or 2 winter mornings a year, they go as far as to delay school openings....lol

London Heathrow Actual Temperatures in the past week:-
(since i keep records of these kinds of things lol...)

Wed Jun 24 High 25.2C 77F Low 11.7C 53F
Thu Jun 25 High 28.0C 82F Low 13.4C 56F
Fri Jun 26 High 24.0C 75F Low 15.8C 60F
Sat Jun 27 High 27.3C 81F Low 14.7C 59F
Sun Jun 28 High 27.6C 82F Low 14.8C 59F
Mon Jun 29 High 30.8C 87F Low 17.7C 64F
Tue Jun 30 High 31.2C 88F Low 17.1C 63F
Wed Jul 1 High 30.9C 88F Low 17.1C 63F
Thu Jul 2 High 30.6C 87F Low 14.9C 59F

-justin-

[tropicana]

true about the slight relief at night, although remember the nights are very short this time of the year, especially at London's latitude (sunrise 4:49am, sunset 9:20pm) so "relief hours" are short at best, especially with the cumulative effects of days and days of highs in the 80s for an area not truly accustomed to these conditions.

anyway, there was some showers in London last night ( 5mm worth).

In Paris, France..after a high of 31.6C (89F) on Thursday, thunderstorms developed in the evening hours producing 24.8mm of rain (about 1 inch) that had to be sweet relief.

-justin-

[jinftl]

do you have any stats on the 2004 (right year?) heat wave that proved so deadly in europe...if i am not mistaken, temps approached/reached 100F in the U.K. and areas of France were over 100F.

true about the slight relief at night, although remember the nights are very short this time of the year, especially at London's latitude (sunrise 4:49am, sunset 9:20pm) so "relief hours" are short at best, especially with the cumulative effects of days and days of highs in the 80s for an area not truly accustomed to these conditions.

anyway, there was some showers in London last night ( 5mm worth).

In Paris, France..after a high of 31.6C (89F) on Thursday, thunderstorms developed in the evening hours producing 24.8mm of rain (about 1 inch) that had to be sweet relief.

-justin-

[tropicana]

jinftl... it was the summer of hell 2003...
I have all the newspaper reports too im such a loser...
but here are all the stats:-

London Heathrow Actual Highs/Lows:-

July 29/03 21.4C 70F/ 16.1C 61F
July 30/03 24.8C 77F/ 16.7C 62F
July 31/03 23.1C 74F/ 15.0C 59F

Aug 1/03 19.5C 67F/ 15.2C 59F
Aug 2/03 25.1C 77F/ 12.3C 54F
Aug 3/03 29.5C 85F/ 13.1C 55F
Aug 4/03 31.8C 89F/ 16.7C 62F
Aug 5/03 32.2C 90F/ 18.7C 66F
Aug 6/03 35.2C 95F/ 20.3C 68F
Aug 7/03 29.7C 86F/ 18.0C 65F
Aug 8/03 30.7C 87F/ 18.8C 66F
Aug 9/03 35.0C 95F/ 19.3C 67F
Aug 10/03 37.9C 100F/ 20.1C 68F
Aug 11/03 33.7C 93F/ 20.0C 68F
Aug 12/03 30.1C 86F/ 18.7C 66F
Aug 13/03 28.5C 84F/ 17.5C 64F
Aug 14/03 25.1C 77F/ 15.5C 60F
Aug 15/03 24.5C 76F/ 13.4C 56F


For Paris' Charles De Gaulle Airport:

Aug 1/03 28.7C 84F/ 15.2C 59F
Aug 2/03 29.9C 86F/ 15.8C 60F
Aug 3/03 33.0C 92F/ 17.3C 63F
Aug 4/03 35.2C 95F/ 19.5C 68F
Aug 5/03 36.3C 97F/ 19.2C 67F
Aug 6/03 38.4C 101F/ 20.7C 69F
Aug 7/03 37.7C 100F/ 19.9C 68F
Aug 8/03 35.2C 95F/ 20.1C 68F
Aug 9/03 35.7C 96F/ 19.2C 66F
Aug 10/03 38.0C 100F/ 20.4C 68F
Aug 11/03 37.6C 100F/ 23.8C 75F
Aug 12/03 39.0C 102F/ 23.8C 75F
Aug 13/03 33.5C 93F/ 20.2C 68F
Aug 14/03 27.5C 82F/ 17.4C 63F
Aug 15/03 26.6C 80F/ 14.4C 58F
Aug 16/03 28.3C 83F/ 15.7C 60F

-justin-