The Met Office has issued its first-ever red warning of extreme heat for many parts of England, meaning the extreme weather could lead to “serious illness or death”. According to the department, much of England is expected to be hit by exceptional heat early next week, with temperatures reaching the high 30°C in places and perhaps as high as 40°C.
Meteorologist Paul Gundersen of the Met Office said: “Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking temperatures are likely to be early next week, quite far over the red warning zone on Monday, and a little more east and north on Tuesday.
“Currently, there is a 50 percent chance that we will be able to see temperatures above 40°C and an 80 percent chance that we will see a new maximum temperature reach.
“The nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas.
“This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure.
“That’s why it’s important for people to plan for the heat and consider changing their routines.
“This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”
The red extreme heat national severe weather warning is in effect for parts of central, northern, eastern and southeastern England on Monday and Tuesday.
Since earlier this week, much of England and Wales have an Amber Extreme heat warning for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
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The increase in the warning level to red parallels an increase of the current Heat Health Warning to level 4 for England by the UK Health Security Agency.
According to Labor MP Richard Burgon, the current climate crisis is a crisis “driven by the rich”.
Referring to research published by Oxfam in 2020, the Corbyn-era shadow minister tweeted: “As we face temperatures of 40°C and the first-ever Red Extreme Heat Alert, remember that this climate crisis is being caused by the rich.
“The richest 1 percent of people in the UK each produce 11x the CO2 emissions of someone in the poorest half of society.
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This is the first time 40C has been forecast in the UK.
The current record temperature in the UK is 38.7C, which was reached at Cambridge Botanic Garden on 25 July 2019.