Temperatures and weather in the United Kingdom over the past couple of months have been uneven and unpredictable to say the least. The country just experienced its hottest May and spring on record, comfortably beating out a prior record that was held for over 80 years. Then came around three weeks where temperatures dropped to much cooler standards, rather surprisingly low for UK summer standards in fact, and this is about to change once more.
The Met Office, the UK's weather organisation, has issued a formal warning for "Extreme Heat" in much of the UK, where it's expected that the temperature record for June in the country will soon be smashed.
The forecast expects temperatures to reach as high as 38°C in some areas, with southern England expected to face the brunt of the heat and London in particular looking to be rather hot. The temperatures are expected to peak between June 23-25, with the latter two days looking to be the warmest of the bunch and where the June record is looking to be smashed. For reference, the current June temperature record topped out at 35.6°C in 1957 and 1976, with forecast temperatures expected to overcome that by around 2°C.
The Met Office also expects there to be tropical nights, meaning temperatures won't drop below 20°C, with high dew points leading to very humid days and nights too.
With a risk to health, Met Office deputy chief forecaster Tom Crabtree issued a statement highlighting the dangers of the days to come.
"The forecast heatwave is developing into an impactful severe weather event, with record breaking June temperatures and very high humidity. The combination of heat and humidity will be oppressive and bring impacts across society from public health and infrastructure, to power and water supplies.
"As well as very high daytime temperatures, there will be consecutive nights where temperatures do not drop below 20°C, which is called a Tropical Night. This will make it very hard for people to recover from the daytime heat, exacerbating the heat stress impacts."