Heatwave finally cools off... but not for long
BRITAIN’S best heatwave in five years will finally be put on hold this week – but not for very long. Forecasters said there will be a few cooler days and a chance of scattered showers after weeks of intense heat.
Football fans can still expect good weather in pub gardens for tonight and tomorrow’s World Cup semi-finals.
England enjoyed its hottest day of the year on Sunday, with 90F (32.4C) recorded in Gosport, near Portsmouth.
Yesterday was the 16th day in a row of temperatures over 82F, making it the longest hot spell since 2013, when there were 19 consecutive days.
But while the temperature will dip slightly for a few days, there is no end in sight to the heatwave.
It looks like next week there could be the chance of slightly lower temperatures but even that is not certain.
For much of England and Wales, last month was one of the top five driest Junes on record.
Parts of south-east and central southern England saw just six per cent of average rainfall, according to Met Office provisional figures.
Drought and scorching temperatures have turned a usually icy reservoir 1,250ft up in the Pennines into a desert.
Blackstone Edge, between Rochdale in Greater Manchester and Calderdale, West Yorkshire, has almost dried up over the past three weeks.
More than 50 firefighters tackled a huge moor fire on the opposite side of the Pennines from the recent huge blazes on Sunday.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said 12 fire engines were called to Catstones Moor, near Cullingworth, north-west of Bradford, amid “extreme heat conditions”.
But a cooler front from Scotland will see temperatures drop to the low-to-mid 70Fs for much of England from today, Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said.
It will feel coolest on the east coast, with mid-60Fs to low-70Fs temperatures, and a chance of “isolated showers” on Thursday.
Ms Mitchell said: “Temperatures are going to cool down a bit and we are going to see fresher conditions.
It will still be very warm, less hot than recently, with the risk for showers.”
Martin Bowles, from the Met Office, said: “It looks like next week there could be the chance of slightly lower temperatures but even that is not certain.”