Tomorrow much of England will issue a red weather warning for extreme heat, with temperatures as high as 42C blowing Britain into Tuesday evening. With conditions that are life-threatening and disrupt infrastructure, people have been told where they can work from home.
According to the latest charts from WXCharts, the maximum temperature for Monday in the UK is 39°C at 6pm.
From 9am, a majority of southern England will bake in 30C to 32C weather, while Wales and England will see north of London between 24C and 29C.
By 6pm, all but North West England will be scorching in temperatures over 30C, with 39C in Southend-on-Sea and Peterborough.
At 3 a.m. on Tuesday, the temperature in Wales and England dropped to a still scorching 22 to 25 degrees.
Kit Malthouse, a Cabinet minister, has warned road and rail transport has experienced “significant disruption” due to the heat wave, urging people not to travel Monday and Tuesday.
Mr Malthouse said: “Obviously the carriers are messaging people on Mondays and Tuesdays to travel only when absolutely necessary.
“Service will be significantly affected. For example, the heat will have consequences for the track, causing trains to run slower. There may be fewer services. People should be wary of disturbance.
“If they don’t have to travel, now might be a time to work from home.”
GMB Union has also demanded that a legal maximum temperature be imposed in all work environments and suggested that if bosses fail to provide adequate cool conditions, employees should leave.
Lynsey Mann, GMB Health and Safety Officer, said: “Bosses should do everything possible to keep workplaces cool and most importantly safe.
“This can be as simple as getting people to wear casual clothes and ensure proper hydration. High levels of UV exposure also mean that outdoor workers are at much higher risk of developing skin cancer.
“Ultimately, there should be a legal maximum working temperature, and that’s in the employer’s interest — workers who overheat will not be at their best.”
The Met Office has three extreme heat warnings in effect throughout Monday and Tuesday: one red and two orange.
The red warning applies to urban areas across England, stretching from Surrey and Sussex to both Manchester and York.
It reads: “Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking temperatures are likely on Monday and then again on Tuesday.
“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm for the UK, especially in urban areas.
“This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Temperatures are expected to drop from Wednesday.”
Most if not all of the Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber, London and England as far as the South West and North East are affected by the warning.
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Writing about the extreme heat for the agency’s website, Ian Simpson, Netweather.tv forecaster, said: “Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be unusually hot, with peak temperatures generally between 24 and 28C.
“However, exceptionally high temperatures are forecast across England and Wales, with highs of 36-38C over East Anglia, the East Midlands and Cambridgeshire, and possibly 39 or 40C locally.
“In West Wales and the West Country a low 30 degrees Celsius will generally be reached, but in some inland parts of Cornwall and North Devon can reach 35 to 37 degrees Celsius.
“Sleep can be difficult for many of us on Monday night, with generally predicted minimum temperatures of no lower than 20-23C in much of England and Wales, with minimums of around 25C in central London.”
“In eastern England, record temperatures are likely to be reached on Tuesday. Temperatures of 37-40C are expected in a band stretching from the south east through Cambridgeshire into the eastern Midlands.
“Even a 41 or 42C cannot be ruled out at this stage. Further north, record temperatures of 33-36C are expected in the north east of England as far north as Northumberland.
“The south east of Scotland is also getting very hot, with temperatures reaching around 33C. Other parts of Scotland can expect 28 to 32C. However, it will be much cooler in Northern Ireland and in West Wales and the West Country, with thunderstorms spreading from the west.
“Wednesday the heat will ease, with a chance of thunderstorms, especially in the southern half of England, and it will be wet for a while over much of Scotland and northern England.”