The With Office has warned people’s lives could be at risk as it indicated it is likely that a new record temperature could be reached in the UK early next week. Meteorologists gave an 80 percent chance that the mercury will surpass the UK’s record temperature of 38.7C (101.7F) in Cambridge in 2019, with the current heat wave reaching its peak on Tuesday. Senior meteorologist at the British Weather Service Jim Dale has explained how to lower body temperature.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Dale said: “A lot of advice is being given.
“I am ex-Royal Navy and I know this was developed together with the Royal Navy.
“If you’re really really hot and think you’re going to pass out.
“Find yourself a bowl of water, put some ice in the water. Dip your fingers in it and, if necessary, your toes and feet.
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“Leave them in there for two to four minutes as long as you can stand.
“I promise you because it has been scientifically proven within the Royal Navy that it will lower your body temperature by about 1C.
“If you went from 37°C to 39, that will get you back to where you need to be and cool you down.”
There is a 50 per cent chance that temperatures will reach 40°C somewhere in the UK, likely along the A1 corridor, with the Met Office issuing its first-ever red warning of extreme heat.
The UK Health Security Agency has raised its heat warning from level three to level four – a “national emergency”.
Level four is reached “when a heat wave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend beyond the health and social care system…At this level, illness and death can occur in the fit and healthy, not just high-risk groups” the organization said.
The Met Office’s red alert, for Monday and Tuesday, covers an area from London to Manchester and as far as the Vale of York.
Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: “If people have vulnerable relatives or neighbours, now is the time to ensure they take appropriate measures to cope with the heat because if the forecast is as we think it will be in the red warning area, human life is at risk.
“This is a very serious situation.”
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He said there is an 80 percent chance that the UK’s all-time temperature record will be broken, and a 50 percent chance that temperatures of 40°C will be reached somewhere in the UK.
“Most likely, that would be within the red extreme heat warning area,” Madge said.
“Probably the most likely areas to look at are north of London and up to Lincolnshire, inland.
“Somewhere like Peterborough, Grantham, Sandy, Stevenage, those kinds of areas, the A1 corridor.”