Heat health alert for Yorkshire upgraded to amber due to high temperatures
The heat health warning for Yorkshire has been upgraded to amber due to rising temperatures expected later this week.
In what has already been a scorching summer, temperatures are set to top 30C once again, with the mercury hitting up to 33C on Thursday.
The amber warning, which has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency, means there is likely to be significant impact on health and social care services.
Parts of the UK are set to see their fifth heatwave of the summer as the country continues to bake in an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather.
Monday will be slightly cooler before temperatures rise again on Tuesday.
“We’ll probably see highs reaching the mid-30s quite widely on Wednesday, and indeed on Thursday too for England and Wales,” Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said.
“On Wednesday, probably the Midlands, maybe a little bit further south, the M4 corridor, west of London, up towards the Midlands, is where we might have a small chance of reaching 36C in one or two spots.
“But Thursday at this stage looks the most likely hottest day of the week.
“So 36C is a fairly reasonable probability locally on Thursday and there’s a small chance it could get even higher than that.”
Half of England and all of Wales have been plunged into drought and more regions could be declared when officials meet at the National Drought Group on Monday (Aug 10).
The Met Office is considering issuing rare extreme heat warnings ahead of the scorching temperatures forecast later in the week.
“We sometimes issue extreme heat warnings, amber and red warnings, which we did back in June, so that’s under consideration at the moment,” Mr Morgan said.
What does the amber heat alert say?
Significant impacts are likely across health and social care services due to the high temperatures, including:
- a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. There may also be impacts on younger age groups
- likely increased demand on all health and social care services
- internal temperatures in care settings (hospitals and care homes) may exceed the recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment
- the heat affecting the ability of the workforce to deliver services
- indoor environments overheating increasing the risk to vulnerable people living independently in community and care settings
- issues managing medicines
- staffing issues due to external factors (for example, affecting transport)
- increased demand for power exceeding capacity
- other sector starting to observe impacts (for example, travel delays)
- water-related incidents may increase, including risks from cold-water shock and drowning