For the first time in history, the British Government has activated the "red alert" and the "national emergency" for a heat wave, fearing that temperatures will exceed 40 degrees in the United Kingdom for the first time between Sunday and the Monday.

The historical maximum to date, 38.7 degrees, was registered in 2019 in Cambridge.


Boris Johnson convened an emergency Cobra cabinet this week and the Met Office had activated the "amber alert", but the impact of the heat wave in Spain and France has forced it to review the forecasts.

The chances of breaking the symbolic barrier of 40 degrees and even reaching 41 in the south of England are now 80%.


The Health and Safety Agency (UKHSA) has warned that extreme heat, coupled with high humidity, can have "serious effects not only on the elderly, children and vulnerable people, but also on healthy people and outsiders. risk groups.

Schools will suspend their activities on Monday and Tuesday and

the suspension of sports tests is also recommended.

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Among the possible expected impacts are fires in national parks, problems in the water supply, the alteration of ambulance and emergency services in hospitals, garbage collection, the melting of asphalt on highways or fires. spontaneous on the sleepers of the train.

Alert in London


London has also decreed its own alert, with the supply of water points in the city and guidelines to avoid congested areas and the use of up to seven tube lines that lack air conditioning.


"This is an absolutely unprecedented episode,

" said Penelope Endersby, executive director of the Met Office.

"We recommend that the British take this as a storm warning and assess the possibility of changing their plans in the coming days."


"What we are seeing, on a global scale, is a succession of extreme episodes induced by climate change," Edersby added.

"As we haven't had comparable experiences before, it's hard to know what to expect with something like this. In the UK, we often welcome sunny days as an opportunity to get outside and play. This time it's going to be very different."

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