The government has issued its first warning under a new system designed to alert people to the dangers of heatwaves.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office have issued the first heat-health alert in six regions: London, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West, East of England, and South East.
It will be in place from 9 am on Friday until Monday morning.
Dr Agostinho Sousa of the UKHSA said: “In the coming days, we are probable to experience our first sustained period of hot weather of the year so far, so it’s important that everyone ensures they keep hydrated and cool while enjoying the sun.”
The new system aims to ensure the general public knows the impacts of very high or frigid temperatures on people’s health.
The new Heat-Health Alerting (HHA) service aims to ensure people are aware of the health dangers caused by heat waves or freezing temperatures.
Each alert with give a headline weather prediction, outline the impacts it could have, break the forecast down by region and provide links to other helpful guidance.
The new system will align with the current Met Office’s National Severe Weather Warning Service by colour-coding the potential risk.
The Met Office already produces warnings for all forms of dangerous weather that include all potential impacts, including travel and services.
The new HHA is targeted explicitly at warning the public about the health dangers of high or low temperatures, particularly its impact on older people.
The Heat-health attentive service is provided by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in cooperation with the Met Office from June – Sept. It has been in force since 2004 and is planned to help healthcare professionals manage through periods of extreme cold. Should conditions for an alert be reached outside of this period, an extraordinary heat-health warning will be issued, and stakeholders are counselled to take the usual public health actions as recommended in the Adverse Weather and Health Plan.
In summer 2023, the Heat-Health Alerts will transition to impact-based alerting, which will provide users with information over and above the fact that hot weather is likely to occur. It will indicate the impacts likely to be observed due to the temperatures. The Met Office’s regional day-time and night-time maximum temperature forecasts are monitored. When certain temperature thresholds are reached, the Met Office and UKHSA assess the potential and likelihood of those impacts occurring.
Then a choice will be made on whether an alert is needed and, if so, what type to issue (YELLOW, AMBER or RED).
The Amber Warning advance at the end of a week when the UK will see widely-above mean temperatures, with a Level 3 UK Health Security Agency Heat Health Alert in place for southeastern areas this week and a Level 2 alert for much of England.
Heatwave criteria, when specific temperature thresholds must be exceeded three days running, will be met for many locations in southern and central England and Wales early this week. Temperatures on Tuesday could peak at 31°C in the southeast, although there will be more clouds. More excellent conditions will have spread to Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England, along with some showers in the northwest.
Warm summer conditions will endure in place for much of the week for most of England and Wales, albeit slightly less hot on Wednesday and Thursday.
when temperatures are more probable to peak in the high 20s Celsius.
A persistent area of high pressure centred over the southern half of the UK is behind for this week’s warm spell, bringing largely dry and clear weather, with slight cooling into the evenings. During the weekend, a developing southerly flow will allow very high temperatures currently building over the continent to spread northwards to the UK.
Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Rebekah Sherwin said: “Today (12 July), temperatures are likely to peak at 31°C in the southeast, with warm weather probable to continue throughout this week, and it looks likely to ramp up late this week and into early next week.
“From Sunday to Monday, temperatures will likely be more than 35°C in the southeast, although the details remain uncertain. Elsewhere, temperatures in England and Wales could be justly widely beyond 32°C, and the mid-to-high 20s Celsius remote north.”
