A new record high temperature has been set for June for the third day in a row as sweltering heat scorches the UK.
The Met Office warned temperatures are still rising as Friday was confirmed to be the UK’s hottest June day on record with a provisional temperature of 37.3C recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk, surpassing the high of 36.7C recorded in Merryfield, Somerset, on Thursday.
These smashed the long-standing record for June heat – which dates back to the summer of 1976 – by more than 1C, which is significant given such records were usually broken only by a fraction of a degree in the past.
Scientists warned on Friday that this current heatwave would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, with human-driven climate change fuelling more intense and frequent extreme heat events.
Health chiefs warned of the impact the conditions are having on services this week as they face significantly more life-threatening emergency calls.
Rare red warnings remain in place on Friday with forecasters expecting temperatures to reach as high as 36C in London and 35C in Manchester on Friday, with Belfast and Cardiff looking at potential highs of 26C.
Met Office climate spokesman Grahame Madge said: “Before this week, the 1976 UK June temperature record had stood for 50 years, but – provisionally – it has been exceeded on three consecutive days this week.
“And importantly those new records have come from a broad swathe of southern England, from Somerset to Suffolk: this shows what a widespread and impactful event this current heatwave has been.”
Schools and nurseries have been forced to close and a hosepipe ban has been brought in for Kent amid surging demand.
There are at least 571 schools either fully or partially closed because of the heat, including in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, West Berks and Worcestershire.
Several hospitals have declared critical incidents, with University Hospital Southampton being forced to cancel a number of planned operations and some outpatient appointments.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) responded to its highest number of life-threatening emergencies ever on Wednesday, and its chief operating officer Craig Harman said he expects “demand to grow day on day over the next couple of days”.
As football fans prepare to cheer on England in Saturday’s World Cup game, Mr Harman has told people to drink alcohol responsibly, drinking “plenty of water” in between alcoholic beverages.
LAS on Wednesday saw a 50% increase in life-threatening emergency calls compared with a typical Wednesday in June, with the number of cardiac arrests up 30%.
Dr Hilary Williams, clinical vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the intense heat exposes how poor the infrastructure of the health service is.
“When you go round hospitals, very, very few hospitals are new,” she said. “We’ve kind of bolted things in car parks, we’ve added an extra wing on here, we’ve changed a corridor into a ward, and those places just aren’t coping with the demands of extreme heat.
“The patients are far too hot. We’re hearing reports of elderly care wards way over 30C.”
Dr Williams also said some critical machinery, such as MRI scanners and linear accelerators that treat cancer, have gone down due to the heat.
A hospital close to where the Wimbledon tennis championships begin on Monday has issued a warning that it may face increased demand for emergency services.
Nicola Shopland, chief nurse at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, said: “Wimbledon brings people together and we’re so lucky to have it on our doorstep – we want people to enjoy it but also be safe by taking simple actions such as staying hydrated, keeping cool and wearing sunscreen.”
Train passengers are being urged to avoid non-essential travel across much of England on Friday, with Network Rail saying services operating in the Met Office’s red and amber zones should only be used “if absolutely necessary”.
The M5 was closed in both directions between J22 and J23 in Somerset because of a fault with National Grid infrastructure on Friday afternoon causing “severe delays” of two hours, National Highways said.
Sheffield’s tram network was also suspended on Friday afternoon because of the extreme heat.
The RAC said for the third day running its patrols had gone out on Thursday to 20% more breakdowns than usual for late June, and it expects the same level of need on Friday as it advises to “only travel for essential trips”.
Some tourist attractions shut early or did not open on Friday with Stonehenge moving its last entry forward “to ensure the safety of our visitors and staff”, while Marwell Zoo in Hampshire was closed completely.
Courts have also been affected, with the cells at Bristol Crown Court closed because of the heat and defendants moved to Bristol Magistrates’ Court where it was thought to be cooler.
The sentencing of six defendants for a firearms conspiracy – including one of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky’s killers Faisal Razzaq – could not go ahead on Friday because the dock at newly-refurbished Harrow Crown Court was too hot.
Firefighters from Derbyshire and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service are continuing to tackle a wildfire on Tintwistle Moor in Glossop which is affecting an area of about 200 hectares.
Leicestershire Police said specialist police dive teams searching for a teenage boy after reports he entered Meynell Lake in Fosse Way, Syston, on Thursday, have recovered his body from the water.
A 50-year-old man from Cilfrew, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, died after entering the water at Aberavon beach on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said electricity supplies may be squeezed on Friday.
Neso, which is tasked with making sure the supply of electricity matches demand for it, issued a so-called electricity margin notice for between 7pm and 10pm.
The Met Office extended its red warning until 9pm on Friday for London and parts of east and south-east England, stretching across Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Kent – the first time it has issued red heat warnings over three consecutive days.
An amber heat warning is in place for a wider area on Friday, running to midnight and taking in the East Midlands, East of England, North West, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Thermal camera images captured for Greenpeace UK on Wednesday revealed the extent of the heat when it showed pavements, rail platforms, building sites and playgrounds across London reaching sweltering surface temperatures in the 50C to 60C range.
Meanwhile, swathes of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland faced yellow warnings for thunderstorms on Friday.
Annie Shuttleworth, a Met Office meteorologist, said eastern England is expected to see the highest temperatures on Friday but things will “finally cool down this weekend”.
The current heatwave is driven by a “heat-dome” – an area of high pressure that stalls over a region and traps heat – settling over western Europe and bringing extreme conditions across the continent.
This has been compounded by human-driven climate change, mostly caused by burning fossil fuels, which is making such extreme heatwaves more frequent and intense.
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