The UK hit a provisional temperature record of 36.4C at Yeovilton in Somerset on Thursday, making it the hottest June day recorded for a second day in a row. Greg Wolverson, deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said the heatwave had pushed June into unprecedented territory.
He said: "We’ve seen a new provisional June maximum temperature record for a second consecutive day as the heatwave continues." The earlier June peak was 36.1C yesterday; before that, the cited record stood at 35.9C from 1976.
Met Office and Yeovilton
The Met Office said the record could be exceeded again in the coming hours. Wolverson said: "This marks unprecedented heat for the month of June and provides further evidence of how high temperature extremes are becoming increasingly common in the UK as a result of human-induced climate change."
He added: "There’s a chance of this record being challenged again as the warmth moves more markedly east on Friday, before a gradual easing in temperatures through the weekend." That leaves the provisional 36.4C mark open to another challenge before conditions begin to ease.
France and London Ambulance Service
The heat has stretched beyond the UK. More than 44 million people in France were under the highest red alert for heat this week, with daytime temperatures above 40C in many places and night-time heat staying dangerously high.
In London, London Ambulance Service said it faced its highest ever number of life-threatening emergencies in a single day. Chief executive Jason Killens said: "We have seen the highest number of life-threatening emergencies in our history, driven by the extreme heat across London".
On Wednesday, crews attended 642 Category 1 calls, received 7,900 calls and responded to almost 3,600 patients. Doctors also warned that extreme heat was affecting radiotherapy machines, MRI scanners, critical IT systems and cooling units in hospitals in England, while the hot weather brought a surge in admissions and people arriving at A&E.
Samira in Ris-Orangis
For Samira, a single parent and former building caretaker in Ris-Orangis, the heat turned ordinary shelter into something unbearable. She said: "Yesterday I sat down and cried, I thought I’m going to die".
She also said: "Blazing sun hits my windows all day – I can’t breathe, I feel dizzy, there is no air". For readers facing the same conditions, the immediate issue is not the headline number but the hours before Friday’s eastward shift and the slower relief promised through the weekend.
