There is no point denying that in the UK many people enjoy themselves when the weather is unusually warm, even as many others feel uncomfortable and in some cases unsafe, due both to the heat itself and what it signals about global heating. Spells of hot weather make sun-lovers feel they have been transplanted to the Mediterranean – where many of us take our holidays. Even now, record-breaking temperatures are still sometimes welcomed, rather than feared as a harbinger of more extreme dangers ahead.
That said, few will welcome the Met Office issuing its first ever “red warning” for exceptional heat on Monday and Tuesday – with unprecedented temperatures of 40C forecast in London and the Midlands, and as far north as Manchester and York. This represents a danger to life, with the risk of illness not limited to vulnerable people. The message is to keep hydrated and to find shade where possible. There are warnings of travel chaos and mobile phone blackouts. Not all parts of the UK are similarly affected; the top temperature in Aberdeen is forecast to be 21C. But there is a real prospect that the all-time high of 38.7C, set in Cambridge in 2019, could be broken.
