The Met Office is forecasting a new heatwave in London with temperatures set to hit 34C
Wimbledon has started handing out free sun cream samples to help protect the crowds of tennis spectators roasting while sat courtside and on Henman Hill during a fresh heatwave. This comes as a yellow heat health alert has been issued for London by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) from 12pm today (Saturday, July 4) until 8pm next Saturday, July 11.
Temperatures could reach 28C today, according to the Met Office, before rising to 29C on Sunday, then approach the low 30s next week before a peak of 34C on Thursday or Friday. Stewards at Wimbledon now have 500,000 free sun cream samples and water to hand out where needed during the tennis tournament which runs until Sunday, July 12.
La Roche-Posay was recently announced as the exclusive suncare supplier for Wimbledon and the skincare brand is now providing sunscreen samples with half a million people expected to attend the tournament over its two weeks. There is also an on-site pharmacy where sun cream can be bought, including a La Roche-Posay 50SPF spray costing £27.50.
Military service stewards Able Seaman Michelle Rowlands and Corporal Gillian Craig said sunstroke is the biggest risk to spectators. The pair said that measures are being put in place every year to help attendees cope with the rising temperatures and hot weather.
Ms Craig said she is in a “good position” to see the crowds on the courts, adding: “We’ve got free sun cream out this year, extra water kindly donated by Evian, like all these little things we’re learning and putting into place each year. Plus being on the centre court, we know the schedule of the sun.”
She said “we learn year on year”, adding: “Every year, the club gets much better at managing it for the spectators.”
Ms Rowlands explained that military personnel are “all trained in heat protection and heat prevention”, adding: “If someone goes down, we would know what to do.” Ms Craig said she has not had to spring into action this year, but that last year was hot.
She said: “We’re learning all the time and we have the skillset from sort of our day-to-day role to bring it in, so we all have an absolute base level of first aid training, and, as Michelle said, we do heat illness prevention training each.
“But with our different experiences and being in different places in the world, like that’s what makes us unique to the club, and to be able to really help with that.”
Regarding the upcoming heatwave, Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: “We have got a heatwave on the way across parts of southern England and Wales, temperatures are already quite high across the South East today, we could get 28C in London. Elsewhere, it’s not as hot as we have got temperatures closer to average but they will climb as we go into next week.
“The northern areas of the country will be cloudier with spells of rain at times, so there’s a north/south split. There will be highs of 29C tomorrow in the south. At the start of next week we will see temperatures approach the low 30s.
“The peak of the heat appears to be Thursday or Friday, 34C in the South East. By comparison to the heatwave we saw in June, this heatwave won’t be as hot and humid, but it will be a prolonged spell of hot weather which lasts around a week.”
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