Heatwave Extended Into Midweek as Wildfire Risk Peaks
The heatwave will not break tonight as forecast but is being extended into the middle of next week: the health agency has issued a fresh amber heat-health alert running until Tuesday evening across most of England, warning of a rise in deaths among the over-65s. The wildfire risk is at its highest today across much of southern England, with London rated “extreme” through Monday; fire crews spent the weekend tackling moorland blazes near Glossop in the Peak District. Temperatures reach the mid-30s, with warm “tropical” nights offering little relief.
The extension is the story: a spell whose danger was always its length is now longer still, and the health agency’s alert has been rolled forward rather than lifted, keeping most of England under warning into the working week. The wildfire risk is the acute edge — ground dried by a fortnight of heat and the second-driest spring on record ignites easily, and a single moorland fire can close roads and threaten homes, as the Peak District blazes and last week’s lineside fire at Stratford showed. Warm nights above 20C compound the strain, denying bodies and buildings the chance to cool. The heat is forecast to ease only slightly early next week, with a growing chance of thunderstorms that bring their own risks. Watch for any escalation to a red alert, the spread of wildfires across the dry south and east, and the excess-death figures that will follow once the spell finally breaks.