The United Kingdom issues a “red extreme heat warning” as temperatures could reach 41°C in parts of England.
A heat wave affecting much of Western Europe and the United Kingdom began in mid-July 2022, setting all-time high temperatures across the region. The soaring temperatures caused a string of wildfires to break out across Europe, and the high temperatures caused hundreds of deaths across Spain and Portugal. The United Kingdom issued its first ever “red” level temperature warning, and several towns were evacuated in Portugal and France. The 2022 United Kingdom heat wave is an ongoing period of unusually hot weather across much of the United Kingdom, peaking in mid-July 2022. The heat wave began on 8 July, when the Met Office released the first heat health warnings in response to rising temperatures. As of 16 July, a red extreme heat weather warning is in place for much of central and southern England, warning of upcoming potentially record-breakingly high temperatures on 18–19 July. It is part of a wider ongoing heat wave across Europe.
The current highest temperature in the UK is 38.7C, in Cambridge in 2019. High temperatures are also forecast across the UK – with amber warnings in the rest of England, all of Wales, and parts of Scotland. London is set to be one of the hottest places in the world on Monday, with temperatures soaring above the Western Sahara and the Caribbean.