U.K. has warmest-ever night, braces for record-smashing heat
The HinduMillions of people in Britain woke from the country's warmest-ever night on July 19 and braced for a day when temperatures are forecast to hit 40° Celsius, as a heat wave scorching Europe wallops a country more used to mild weather and rain. The U.K.'s Met Office weather agency said provisional figures showed the temperature remained above 25° C overnight in parts of the country for the first time. Met Office forecaster Rachel Ayers said Tuesday's highs would be “unprecedented.” “The temperature will be very hot throughout the day, before rising as high as 40° C, maybe even 41° C in isolated spots across England during the afternoon,” she said. A huge chunk of England, from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north, is under the country's first warning of “extreme” heat, meaning there is a danger of death even for healthy people, as the hot, dry weather that has scorched mainland Europe for the past week moved north. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain's transport infrastructure, some of it dating from Victorian times, “just wasn't built to withstand this type of temperature — and it will be many years before we can replace infrastructure with the kind of infrastructure that could.” At least five people were reported to have drowned across the U.K. in rivers, lakes and reservoirs while trying to cool off.