‘Heat apocalypse’ blasts Europe as record breaking weather sweeps continent

There are dire warnings for the United Kingdom as record breaking temperatures sweep the country in a “heat apocalypse”.

There are warnings that “thousands of excess deaths” could occur across the UK in the coming days as an unprecedented heatwave potentially delivers the usually chilly nation its hottest ever day.

Temperatures are set to peak as high as 41C in places, making Britain toastier than parts of the Sahara.

And the UK isn’t alone. Much of Western Europe is sweltering as desert heat sweeps up from North Africa. Areas of western France have been likened to a “heat apocalypse” with the mercury soaring into the forties as thousands of hectares of land burns in raging and deadly bushfires.

More than 1000 fatalities in mainland Europe have already been blamed on the heatwave.

London is set to hit 36C on Monday followed by 39C on Tuesday. Worksop, a town in the English midlands near Nottingham, is forecast to reach 41C.

Average summer temperatures in Britain are usually around 19-24C.

Expected top temperatures across England and Wales on Monday. Tuesday is expected to be even hotter. Picture: Met Office.

Gogerddan, in western Wales, topped out at 35.3C on Monday, making it Wales’ hottest day on record.

Britain’s previous hottest day was July 25, 2019, when it reached 38.7C in Cambridge, in England’s east.

📈 It's provisionally the hottest day on record in Wales

🌡️ Gogerddan has reached 35.3°C so far today, exceeding the previous record high of 35.2°C, recorded at Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2nd August 1990 #Heatwave2022#heatwavepic.twitter.com/jDhqhOFSVJ

— Met Office (@metoffice) July 18, 2022

‘Thousands could die’

The Met Office, the British equivalent of the Bureau of Meteorology, has issued a “red warning” for extreme heat on both Monday and Tuesday.

The warning area covers much of southern, central and northern England including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

A lesser “amber warning” covers the rest of England, Wales and southern Scotland.

The Met Office has told Britons to expect: “Population-wide adverse health effects, not limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat, leading to serious illness or danger to life”.

It’s the first time a red extreme heat warning has been issued by the Met Office since it introduced the new classification last year.

Met Office chief executive officer Professor Penelope Endersby said fatalities were on the cards.

“These temperatures are unprecedented in the UK and we’re not used to dealing with them,” she was reported as saying in the Daily Mail.

“And heat undoubtedly causes many hundreds, thousands of excess deaths in heatwaves, so people do need to take care and follow the advice we’ve been putting out about keeping in the shade, keeping cool, keeping hydrated, and so on.”

Tourists walk on the sunbaked Parliament Square on July 14, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The hot weather at Margate, near London, on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Impacts on infrastructure are also expected as systems not designed for the level of heat expected crack under the strain. People have been advised to change their daily routines to avoid the sun.

Luton Airport, north of London, had to cancel all flights on Monday afternoon after part of the runway melted.

There are concerns hospitals in the UK could be slammed due to heat related injuries. Meanwhile large chunks of the British rail network will close on Tuesday due to fears of accidents from tracks buckling in the blazing temperatures. Some schools have also closed.

But British beaches were full, from the often balmy south coats of England to the often far milder Scottish coast, has people flocked to the seas.

A forest fire in Louchats, southwestern France, on July 17, 2022. (Photo by THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP)

An aerial view before of fires in La Teste-de-Buck, southwestern France on July 13, 2022. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs PBC. / AFP)

‘Heat apocalypse’

In Spain and Portugal, more than 1000 deaths over the last few days are being blamed on the same weather system which has seen day after day of temperatures in the high thirties.

Madrid’s main airport recorded 42C on Thursday of last week. Pinhao in northern Portugal saw the mercury rise to a maximum of 47C on the same day.

#EFFIS Fire Danger Forecast for 18 July

🔥Very Extreme Danger forecasted in:

➡️Large parts of #Spain🇪🇸, except in Catalonia and Galicia
➡️Occitanie, Pays de la Loire and Brittany, #France🇫🇷
➡️North Eastern #Portugal🇵🇹
➡Greek 🇬🇷Islands & east of Athens
➡Western #Turkey 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/jhhLL7pS6k

— Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) July 18, 2022

The conditions have led to bushfires sweeping across the continent with several deaths confirmed due to the conflagrations.

Fires have been recorded in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece and France. In Gironde, an area in France’s south, 14,000 hectares of land has been destroyed by fire.

Paris could hit 105F, which is just over 40C, on Monday. Picture: The Weather Channel.

Talking to AFP, a, meteorologist warned of a “heat apocalypse” in 15 regions of France.

The heat is expected to peak on Tuesday. But it should then rapidly fall to more manageable summer temperatures as cooler air from the Atlantic Ocean pushes the desert air away from the British Isles. London for instance, is forecast to drop from a high of 39C on Tuesday to 25C on Wednesday.