UK weather: Heatwave to continue across UK for a week
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Angela Rayner, Labour’s Deputy Leader, has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to convene an urgent COBRA meeting as the extreme hot, dry weather persists across the country.
Her comments come as a drought has formally declared across vast swathes of Britain, as the nation faces a second heatwave of the summer.
In remarks made today (Saturday), Ms Rayner said: “This is the second major heatwave in weeks but this Tory Government is failing our country yet again.
“Conservative inaction on drought warnings is creating a dust bowl Britain. The Conservatives are lurching from crisis to crisis with no forward planning. This zombie Government hasn’t even held a COBRA meeting whilst millions are facing droughts”.
Boris Johnson met with energy bosses in a rare meeting this week, but has so far not outlined any measures to tackle the effects of the hot weather.
It comes as Dr Rob Thompson, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, warned that the UK needs “winter rainfall” to solve the drought hitting many parts of the country.
In an interview with Sky News on Saturday, Mr Thompson said the drought will “certainly” last weeks, and probably months.
He warned that if Britain did not have more rainfall in winter than usual, “we could be in a lot of trouble next summer”.
On Friday, the Environmental Agency declared drought status across eight of its 14 areas as low-water levels and dry conditions continue.
They include Devon, Kent, East Anglia, East Midlands, Thames, Solent and South Downs, Herts and North London.
In an effort to tackle the problem, hosepipe bans have been implemented in some parts of the country.
It comes after the Met Office issued an extreme heat warning for much of the UK until Sunday.
Satellite images over the last few days have also shown how parched the land is across much of the country, particularly in the south and east.
The dry weather has also caused fears among farmers, as reports warn their yields could be significantly affected.
Forecasters are predicting the soaring mercury will give way to rainfall, but have warned that the thundery downpours after such parched conditions could cause flash floods.
Nick Finnis, Senior Forecaster for Netweather, predicted: “The rain will most likely fall from heavy and thundery downpours.
“So not only will they be hit and miss, with not everywhere catching one, the heavy downpours may cause flash-flooding as the ground will be baked too hard to absorb much if any water.
“It will take a while to rid of the heat and humidity across the southeast into next week. But eventually cooler air will push in across all parts on Wednesday, with temperatures returning to near average values for the time of year across most parts”.
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