The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has extended a heat health alert for the whole of England for a further six days. It comes as the Met Office confirmed that the threshold for an official heatwave has been exceeded in the North West and other parts of England.
The temperature has soared in recent days, hitting 32.2C in Chertsey, Surrey, on Saturday June 10 - the highest recorded so far this year - while Bridgefoot in Cumbria has so far seen Tuesday’s highest temperature, at 30.1C.
According to the Met Office, a heatwave is defined as three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold. In Greater Manchester, the threshold is 25C - but the region has been baking in temperatures around 30C since Saturday.
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Today, the UKHSA announced that a heat health alert currently in place for all regions of England will now be extended to Monday, June 19. It was due to end today.
The agency added that all regions are now on a yellow alert after an amber alert covering five areas was de-escalated. It said that a yellow alert means that there could be "increased use of health care services by vulnerable populations and an increase in risk to health for individuals over the age of 65 or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases".
Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said the rest of the week will be hotter than average for the time of year, but that the extreme heat may come down slightly, meaning that heatwave criteria may not continue to be hit.
“The heat is set to drop slightly in coming days," he said. "London might not meet heatwave criteria, for example, but there’s a good deal of dry, fine, sunny weather to be had this week with temperatures remaining well above average."
He added: “Into the weekend there should be a fair amount of dry weather, with temperatures remaining warm for many, although also humid and warm overnight.”
Thunderstorm warnings had been in place over the weekend and yesterday, with Manchester being hit by thunder, lighting, torrential rain and hail yesterday evening - just in time for Manchester City's treble parade through the city centre.
Forecasters have said the worst of the thunderstorms have now passed and drier weather is expected going into the latter parts of the week.
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