The UK’s chief meteorologist says the country is entering into scary, uncharted waters as we are hit by a second massive heatwave this year.
Met Office boss Paul Davies fears a 35C heatwave such as the one we are baking under this week, may now occur once every five years and annually by the end of the century.
And the history-making 40C experienced last month, which caused homes to burn down, our runways to melt and railways to buckle, could hit the UK every three years in 77 years.
“That’s a staggering number,” Mr Davies, a world-leading expert in meteorology, told The Mirror.
Talking about our changing climate and the brutal 40C seen in Lincolnshire on July 19, he said: “I knew it was possible but to see it unfold in reality is quite scary.
“When I started out as a forecaster, if someone had said in your lifetime you’ll see 40 degrees, I’d have said; ‘No, surely not!’.
“We are in uncharted waters. We’re entering areas we’ve never experienced before and it’s not just the UK, it’s the planet as a whole.”
Tinderbox Britain is in the grip of “lethally hot” temperatures, with Wiggonholt in West Sussex the hottest at 31.8C.
Firefighters have been battling blazes across the country and millions more people face a hosepipe ban in the coming weeks including Thames Water.
The Met Office has issued an amber “extreme heat” until Sunday, the UK Health and Security Agency issued a level three heat-health alert, and the AA warned tyres could blow out on the motorways.
And to those still denying climate change, the Met boss said: “Look at the evidence. All the scientists of this planet – all agreeing – that it is happening. You’re seeing the evidence. That was a wake-up call for people – experiencing
those temperatures.”
Two years ago, the UK Met Office mocked-up a future weather forecast for July 2050, showing Southampton to Birmingham with highs of 40C.
They told of festivals cancelled and power outages.
But Mr Davies, a meteorologist for more than 30 years, admits he was taken aback by how quickly their predictions came true.
This year is the driest since 1935 for the whole of England, but in some parts of southern England it has been the driest since 1836. And we are heading for 36C on Saturday.
Rivers are forecast to be exceptionally low in central and southern England, according to the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
The UK could see drought conditions until October.
But there is hope of rain – on Monday, the Midlands and South of England are expected to get their first downfall in weeks, which will continue into Tuesday as temperatures drop to the mid-twenties.
Talking about the 40C milestone last month, Mr Davies said: “I knew theoretically it was possible but it was the speed of which it happened. It was kind of ‘crikey, this is real. This is the real artefact of climate control’.
“My colleagues in Spain, Portugal and France had given me the heads up because the heat was building and they said, ‘Look, Paul, this is a different type of beast we are dealing with. This is fierce. Those temperatures have an impact.”
The Met Office told of receiving disturbing amounts of online abuse after issuing the severe heat warnings last month because they linked it to climate change.
But a survey they later carried out with the public suggests they could have saved many lives – 97%of people within the red and amber extreme heat warning areas last month were aware of the danger.
The survey found 98% within the red warnings were aware and took action and of those in the amber area who were aware, 97% acted.
He said of the abuse: “There’s always a minority voice and it can hurt but as we do what’s right and present the facts that’s critical, there’s not much else we can do.
“But the reality is we’ve never seen these temperatures before in the UK and we still don’t know what the impact is going to be.”
He said it helped a lot to have the UK health security agency, the Environment Agency, the NHS, “supporting each other”.
“It’s the majority versus the minority. The majority were understanding, certainly in my village everyone had started to look after their neighbours and the vulnerable,” he said.
“When you reach a certain temperature your body can’t cope with it, it shuts down especially in the elderly and vulnerable.“
Now in his 50’s Paul recalls in his childhood seeing 32C would be considered a “good heatwave”.
“There are unknowns here. I think 40 degrees was a milestone. That number where we can say ‘this is simply not possible if we did not have climate change’,” he said.
“Now even saying that, sometimes I have to pinch myself. Did we really get 40C this year?” he added.
