Impressive Heat Monday/TuesdayAdded : Saturday at 14:50 Right, you'd have to be living on the other side of the moon not to realise a heatwave will develop across the UK over the next 24 hours.
At the moment you might be thinking "Well, it's actually rather cool to be honest, I can deal with this..." but at the moment we have high pressure across the UK :-
Notice the position of the high. It's sliding East and you can see the low pressure West of Portugal which acts as a rather important cog in all this. The high pressure moves away to the East and tomorrow we get a taste of the hot air from the South :-
But it's just a taste. The Saharan air is now across Biscay and with a new low pressure system developing this mass of air moves North across the UK on Monday :-
Then, the previous low across Western Portugal decides to move Northeast too and as a result the plume of Saharan air moves North across the UK :-
Make no bones about it, this is exceptionally hot air. Now, you might be thinking "OK, so it's hot, but we holiday in temperatures like this? Or, I've experienced hotter temperatures than this before!"
There are a few differences and here is why they are quite important.
- On holiday, you probably stayed in a pool or certainly had overnight air conditioning which allowed you to sleep and your body temperature to recover.
- The UK has never seen 40C before based on modern reliable records.
- 40C is warmer than your body temperature, so instead of expending heat, you are actually absorbing it from the surroundings.
That said, a few simple things and whilst it will be uncomfortable, it will certainly be manageable, but anyone who has lived in the tropics or desert will confirm, hydration really is the most important thing.
Back to the weather now and on Tuesday night the low pressure continues to move North and this draws in cooler air later in the evening and overnight from the West :-
So, hot on Sunday, very hot on Monday and Tuesday, but return to more normal temperatures on Wednesday.
METEOROLOGIST : MARSH
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