Rare red weather warning issued for extreme heat and humidity
The Met Office has made the move for parts of England and Wales this Wednesday and Thursday.
Last updated 1 day ago
We already knew this week was going to be a scorcher but now the Met Office has issued a rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday in the face of extreme heat and humidity.
It's predicted that during this week’s heatwave, parts of England and Wales are likely to see temperatures exceed 37C in the shade and could even see them rise to 38C to 40C in some places.
The Met Office has said that whe extreme heat, which has been very rare in the UK until now, will be accompanied by high humidity, and very warm and humid nights which will make it hard for people to recover overnight.
Heat impacts on health
The heat will have impacts on health, and there will be “significant disruption” to daily life, the Met Office warned, as it urged people to adapt their routines where possible to cope with the heat.
An amber weather warning covering large areas of England and Wales from Monday to Thursday had already been announced but has now been upgraded areas of central England and Wales to red.
The red alert stretches from London across to Somerset and Swansea and up towards Birmingham.
As part of the rare warning, forecasters say conditions will bring a risk to life and population-wide health impacts that no longer limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat while “substantial changes” in working practices and daily routines will be required.
There is also a high risk of failure of heat-sensitive systems and equipment, with the loss of power and other essential services, such as water, electricity, gas or mobile phone services.
Significantly more people will likely visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers, leading to an increased risk of water safety incidents, the Met Office said.
And people can expect travel disruptions, including delays on roads and road closures as well as delays and cancellations to rail and air travel which bring significant welfare issues for those who experience even moderate delays.
Heat to affect travel
The RAC urged drivers to take the red extreme heat warnings seriously this week as they warned that there could be a record number of breakdowns this week.
Rod Dennis, road safety spokesperson at RAC said: “Drivers whose vehicles don’t have effective air conditioning should strongly consider postponing any non-essential car journeys until the Met Office’s weather warnings are lifted and temperatures drop,” he said.
“If this isn’t possible, our best advice is to travel during cooler times of day. This is especially important for anyone travelling with vulnerable people, including young children and older adults, who are at greater risk from the intense heat. We’d also remind motorists never to leave pets inside a hot vehicle, as doing so can quickly become fatal.
He added that the RAC expects breakdown volumes on Monday to be around 20% higher than what’s normal for a Monday in late June and advised drivers to pack an emergency breakdown kit.
“This week could end up being a record-breaking one for June – not just because of the heat, but also for the number of drivers breaking down,” he said. “The heatwave will affect services right across the UK and while all patrols will be working incredibly hard to assist drivers, longer waits are more likely.”
Mr Dennis also said drivers can reduce the risk of breakdowns with a few basic checks, including making sure oil levels are sufficient while coolant levels sit between the “min” and “max” markers.
What do experts say?
Dr Akshay Deoras, senior research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science a Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, said: “This is not just a heatwave, it is a heat-dome driven furnace that will grip most of southern UK and push temperatures into truly exceptional territory.
“We are looking at an intense and record-breaking spell of heat with widespread impacts on public health, infrastructure and essential services.
“Unlike the heatwaves of May 2026 and July 2022, elevated humidity levels are expected to make conditions feel even more oppressive and dangerous by severely reducing the body’s ability to cool itself through sweating.
“Long-standing June temperature records are set to be shattered by 25 June, potentially by a significant margin, and with temperatures edging dangerously close to levels previously thought almost unimaginable in the UK.
“Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past.”
Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, said temperatures of more than 43C are now possible in the UK’s current climate, with heatwaves lasting for multiple days.
But the country’s health services, energy infrastructure and transport are “simply not built for these conditions,” he warned.
“As 40+ temperatures become ever more common, expect many thousands sleeping in the streets as poorly insulated homes become uninhabitable heattraps, widespread power cuts as power cables sag and break, transport chaos as rails, overhead wires and signalling fail, and A & E departments overwhelmed by the old, very young, and vulnerable suffering from overheating.”
Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading’s meteorology department, said: “A warmer atmosphere’s greater thirst for water also means more rapidly onsetting droughts but also the intensification of extreme rainfall and associated flooding as excess water drained from the soil and oceans is channelled into storms that can often be sparked off by summer heat.
“The reality of global warming talked about when I was young in the 1980s is now playing out, yet the solution to avoid further dangerous climate change remains unchanged – upgrade our industry, transport and agriculture to vanquish greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of society.”