We’re due a welcome relief after yet another heatwave
London could be set for six days of rainfall, according to the latest from BBC Weather.
The next handful of days is set to round July out with another heatwave, with the UKHSA issuing a heat health warning, but it seems early to mid-August could give us some respite.
Between August 4 and 9, the forecast says we could be due rain each day – though it’s important to note that this isn’t a sure thing. Not only are those dates far enough in the future that forecasts could change quite dramatically, but BBC Weather operates on a likelihood scale.
For instance, on Tuesday 4 August, the highest likelihood of rain is 38% at around 5pm. It says rain in its forecast so that you can plan accordingly if it does turn out to be a wet day.
In the meantime, though, we have to make do with the dry conditions.
It is the fourth time this summer that temperatures have soared to heatwave levels, with record-breaking temperatures for the month in both May and June and another significant hot spell in mid-July.
July has been 3C above average across the UK, according to provisional Met Office data on the month so far, potentially putting it among the hottest three or four months of July on record.
And southern England has had just 1% of its average July rainfall, while England has had 5% and the UK as a whole 20%, according to the Met Office.
The heat and ongoing dry conditions pose risks to health, and have led to hosepipe bans for 23 million customers, while even water companies without bans in place are telling households to conserve water.
Drought has been declared across a swathe of Wales, crops and livestock grazing are under pressure and the UK is braced for further wildfires.
The third heatwave in mid-July left firefighters battling 19 significant blazes simultaneously in England and Wales, while the Cairngorms in Scotland have been hit by a major wildfire.
Blazes have wrought destruction in mainland Europe this week, with 220,000 people forced out of their homes in south-west France and 116,000 evacuated in Spain.
Across the UK – and Europe, the world’s fastest warming continent – people are facing the rising risk of extreme weather such as heat and drought, fuelled by human-caused climate change, mostly as a result of burning fossil fuels.
Some parts of the UK had rain over the weekend, mainly in the north and northwest, with 33mm (1.3in) falling on Sunday at Charterhall, in the Scottish Borders, and Altnahinch Filters in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, receiving 17mm (0.7in).
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