The heatwave hitting England should subside later in the week, but forecasters working for the Met Office are not ruling out another one later in the summer. Chief meteorologist Paul Davies expects temperatures to ease from Wednesday but another heatwave could strike in August.
Mr Davies told Sky News: “When we look to the future in terms of the next week, there is an easier time because in fact the temperatures start to ease back to what we describe as slightly above normal from about Wednesday onwards. But as we move into all this, you just can’t rule out another plume.”
Mr Davies told Sky News even colleagues in hot countries like Spain and Portugal had described the scenes in the UK as “exceptional”. The forecaster said a “plume” of heat pushing across Europe was affecting Britain differently to mainland Europe.
Read more: UK heatwave live updates
A combination of that plume and human activity generating its own heat is contributing to the high temperatures, he said. Mr Davies added: “I was talking to my colleagues in Spain, Portugal and France over the weekend and they described this heat as exceptional too, and they’ve seen and observed amazing temperatures and, as I say, the brutality of that impact.
“In terms of the UK, the heat which has been affecting Spain, Portugal and France is different towards us. So it’s the activity of that plume, and also us generating our own heat that’s causing the particular problems for tomorrow.”
Mr Davies warned the rise in temperature is “entirely consistent” with climate change and said the “brutality” of the heat could become commonplace by the end of the century." The Met Office has a long-range forecast for the first two weeks of August, which states: “A widespread shift to generally more unsettled conditions is expected at the start of August, though still with some decent dry spells.
“There remains a risk of some thunderstorms, especially in the southern half of the country where above normal temperatures are likely through the period. Elsewhere, temperatures may range from near normal to rather warm.”
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