Heatwave Britain: Lousy weather for fish - stand by for 33C highs

Humid air heading up from France as we head for another sweltering Wednesday

Tom Bawden
Friday 19 July 2013 14:12 BST
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The temperature is set climb even higher next week, hitting a new high of 33C on Wednesday, making it the hottest day in the UK for more than two years, the Met Office said.

After six consecutive days of plus-30C temperatures, Britons will be offered some relative respite today with temperatures expected to peak at 29C and to remain below 30C over the weekend, with morning cloud in the eastern half of the country and easterly breezes tomorrow.

However, the Met Office expects the temperature to move back into "the low 30s" in the South East on Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday is expected to eclipse the year-high of 31.9C, recorded two days ago. This would be the highest UK thermometer reading since June 2011.

Helen Waite, a forecaster at the Met Office, said temperatures will be back up to the high seen this week.

"Next week will be warm again and humid as air pushes up from France," she said.

Meanwhile, farmers will be on high-alert this weekend as the heatwave threatens to unleash a wave of fires that could ruin crops across the country, senior Met Office scientist Karl Kitchen has warned.

Soon-to-be harvested crops such as wheat and winter barley are looking particularly vulnerable to fire, said Mr Kitchen the Met Office scientist with responsibility for wildfires.

The Environment Agency is monitoring rivers where low levels are putting fish stocks at risk. Its officers staged a major rescue on the River Teme, in north Herefordshire - where fish were caught and placed in tanks and moved.

Meanwhile the heatwave will add to motorists' frustrations on what is one of the busiest weekends of the year as many schools break up for the summer holidays. Although the AA projects next weekend as the peak traffic period, the Highways Agency has said it expects the good weather could encourage families to head away sooner - adding to any problems today.

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