UK heatwave latest: June temperature record broken three days in a row as weather warnings continue into weekend – UK Times

Yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms have come to an end in Northern Ireland, according to the Met Office.

The warnings were in place from 10am til 10pm on Friday as the forecaster warned that “scattered thunderstorms may cause disruption in places today.”

The forecaster warned that power cuts, flooding and travel delays could all occur due to the stormy weather.

The rare red weather warning has come to an end across London, the east and south east of England.

The rare Met Office warning stated: “The exceptional spell of hot and humid weather will continue across this region, with impacts to the general population highly likely.”

Temperatures soared to record highs of 37.3C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, surpassing the high of 36.7C recorded in Merryfield, Somerset, on Thursday.

Yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms have come to an end in the north east and west of England, as well as Yorkshire and Humber, according to the Met Office.

The forecaster put the warning in place from 2pm til 9pm on Friday with concerns of flooding and lighting in parts of the country.

The weather warnings remain in place across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

England has provisionally set a highest minimum temperature record for June on Thursday night, with 23.0C in Plymouth.

Health chiefs are warning of the impact the heatwave is having on services as they face significantly more life-threatening emergency calls with record-breaking temperatures continuing to scorch the country.

Several hospitals have declared critical incidents, with University Hospital Southampton being forced to cancel a number of planned operations and some outpatient appointments.

Dr Hilary Williams, clinical vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, told Today the intense heat exposes how poor the infrastructure of the health service is.

“When you go round hospitals, very, very few hospitals are new,” she said. “We’ve kind of bolted things in car parks, we’ve added an extra wing on here, we’ve changed a corridor into a ward, and those places just aren’t coping with the demands of extreme heat.

“The patients are far too hot. We’re hearing reports of elderly care wards way over 30C.”

Dr Williams also said some critical machinery, such as MRI scanners and linear accelerators that treat cancer, have gone down due to the heat.

But with the fixture not kicking-off until 10pm, doctors have warned fans could risk dehydration, fainting, and even heatstroke after drinking all day in the scorching sunshine.

The sentencing of six people for a firearms conspiracy could not go ahead on Friday because the dock was too hot.

The defendants, who included one of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky’s killers Faizal Razzaq, were due to learn their fates at newly refurbished Harrow Crown Court.

But the hearing had to be postponed because the temperature could not be brought down enough for them to sit in the dock.

Security staff said they could not put a fan in the dock, and the hearing could not start until the temperature dropped below 26C.

The building, which reopened this year, after a £26 million safety overhaul, has air conditioning but this was not sufficient to cool the dock.

Judge Hannah Kinch said: “The temperature will need to be monitored and if it goes above 26C the defendants will have to be taken down again.

“I don’t see how we can have a hearing while we are stopping and starting.

“I also think it would be deeply unfair to have defendants who are facing serious sentences kept in difficult conditions in the dock.”

At midday the judge confirmed the hearing could not go ahead as the dock had not cooled down. It was adjourned until October.