Quality | 2009.07.02
UK hits 33C as heatwave becomes official
Much of Britain may have been sweltering for almost a week. But an official heatwave was declared only today, when the Met Office raised the heat-health watch to level three, meaning that the prolonged humid heat has become dangerous to health.
The announcement triggers a range of official responses, including special precautions for people in care, and hospitals put on alert for extra cases.
The highest temperature, 33C, was reported at Henley Regatta, where some competitors needed medical attention, and several spectators collapsed from heat exhaustion. Medical staff reminded guests that the warnings to drink plenty of liquid did not include Pimm\'s with lemonade.
Another day of temperatures hovering around 30C and nights no cooler than 18C is forecast, with an 80% probability that the level three alert will be extended across the Midlands, from London and the south-east. The heatwave should then start to abate with thunderstorms and torrential rain before cooler air is expected at the weekend.
The London ambulance service appealed for people only to call in a genuine emergency, after being inundated with thousands of calls, many reporting breathing difficulties as the air quality deteriorates.
Thousands of children attending a giant party in Battersea Park, to raise funds for a children\'s cancer charity, were hosed down to keep them cool.
A local authority in Hertfordshire is considering reverting to weekly rubbish collections. A Hertsmere borough council spokeswoman said that if the temperature reached 30C on five consecutive days fortnightly collections may be abandoned.
Another council, Harrow in north London, urged householders to wrap food waste in newspaper, to avoid maggots breeding in hot wheelie bins.
The bears at Whipsnade zoo were given frozen fruit ice pops to cool them.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/01/heatwave-weather-health-warning
