The city centre was a hive of activity today as Manchester was treated to near flawless weather conditions. Temperatures reached highs of 25C today with wall-to-wall sunshine, and it's only set to get hotter as the week goes on.
As people flocked out to bars this afternoon the Met Office set an amber heat warning. Much of Greater Manchester is set to hit 29C this weekend, beating destinations such as Los Angeles, Istanbul, and Gran Canaria.
The Met Office today issued a 92-hour amber 'extreme heat' warning for parts of Greater Manchester from Thursday until Sunday. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) also extended its heat-health alert from today until Sunday.
READ MORE: Manchester will be hotter than Los Angeles this weekend
While temperatures will remain lower than the record-breaking highs of 37C in Greater Manchester and 40.3C in Lincolnshire during the last heatwave in July, the upcoming period of hot weather is expected to last longer.
Many were keen to beat the high heats of later this week, with beer gardens across the city centre filling up from lunch time. The sun traps of Oast House, in Spinningfields, and Sinclair's Oyster Bar, in Exchange Square, were unsurprisingly packed.
Plenty could also be seen drinking in the Northern Quarter's Stevenson Square, with outdoor seating becoming a mainstay in the Northern Quarter streets since the pandemic. Not everyone was out for a drink however, with Piccadilly Gardens also filled with people looking to take advantage of the afternoon heat.
Some places of the UK are to see temperatures of up to 35C or even 36C in some places.
Thames Water, which supplies water to 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley, became the latest water company to signal it will bring in a hosepipe ban in the face of the hot, dry summer. The water company said: “Given the long-term forecast of dry weather and another forecast of very hot temperatures coming this week, we are planning to announce a temporary use ban in the coming weeks.”
It urged customers to only use what they need for their essential use. South East Water and Southern Water have already announced hosepipe bans – after the driest first half of the year since 1976 saw south east England clocking up 144 days with little or no rain so far in 2022.
The dry conditions, combined with last month’s record-breaking heatwave, have depleted rivers, reservoirs and aquifers and dried up soils, hitting agriculture, water supplies and wildlife and raising the risk of wildfires.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Rudman said: “With high pressure dominant this week, any showers this week will be contained to the far northwest, and even here they will be short-lived in nature. Further south, which has seen little rain for some time now, it will continue dry through the week providing no relief for parched land, especially in the southeast.”
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