(London) The British Meteorological Service on Friday issued for the first time a red “extreme heat” alert for Monday and Tuesday in England in anticipation of temperatures that could exceed records or even the threshold of 40 ° C.
Posted at 7:22
“Exceptional, possibly record-breaking, temperatures are likely early next week,” Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at Britain’s Met Office, said in a statement.
“There is currently a 50% chance that we will see temperatures reach 40°C and an 80% chance that new maximum temperatures will be reached,” he added.
The record heat ever recorded in the United Kingdom stands at 38.7 ° C, recorded at the botanical garden in Cambridge (East of England) on July 25, 2019.
“Exceptionally warm” nights are also expected, particularly in urban areas.
“We hoped never to come to this situation, but for the first time we have forecasts that exceed 40°C in the UK,” said the Dr Nikos Christidis, climate scientist at the Met Office, stressing that “global warming is already influencing the possibility of extreme temperatures in the country”: the risks of reaching 40 ° C “could be 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate that would not be affected by human influence”.
The Met Office points out that “the frequency, duration and intensity of these events in recent decades are clearly linked to global warming and can be attributed to human activity”.