The UK has recorded its hottest ever temperature, passing 40℃ for the first time. But you can’t deny it had fair warning. The Met Office issued an amber weather warning six days before the heatwave and upgraded it to red three days later, enough time to trade cooling-down tips with friends and stock up on ice lollies.
It’s easy to take modern weather prediction technology and warning systems for granted, but the new advancements save lives. The most well known weather forecast failure in UK history happened 35 years ago. Hours after veteran weather presenter Michael Fish said there was no hurricane coming “but it will be very windy in Spain”, the a devastating storm raged across the country and claimed 18 lives.
