UK Met Office Whips Up More Heatwave Frenzy

Written by Andy Rowlands on August 12, 2022. Posted in Current News

Yesterday, the mainstream media was again talking heatwaves, droughts and ‘extreme temperatures’ for the UK, though they were less hysterical than the BBC.

This time, with four consecutive days over the seasonal average, that is now classed as a heatwave in the UK, since the Met Office reduced the number of consecutive days that qualifiy as a heatwave from seven to just three.

This allows them to claim the UK is experiencing more heatwaves, and blame it on ‘climate change’.

The UK has seen a dry summer so far, like the ones we used to get when I was growing up. In 1976, my parents took me and my brother to Woolcacombe in Devon, and we had 14 days of almost unbroken sun. Today that would be classed as apocalyptic.

It should also be noted the temperatures forecast for the weekend are five degrees cooler than the 40C forecast a couple weeks ago, yet the Met Office described this five-degree cooler as ‘lethally hot’.

The Daily Mail was probably the most restrained of the news reports yesterday, and I reproduce their article here:

Firefighters have tackled a grass fire in a popular London picnic spot while Brits hit the beach to cool off in the sea today as an ‘Extreme Heat’ warning comes into force – ahead of the 35C heatwave predicted by forecasters this weekend.

Fire crews have been battling ferocious wildfires across the capital today amid the sweltering temperatures across the dry, tinderbox conditions – while a ‘substantial fire involving crop’ continues to rage in Leicestershire.

It has also emerged that a drought could be declared for some parts of England on Friday.

The National Drought Group – made up of Government and agency officials, water companies and other groups such as the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) – is set to meet tomorrow to discuss the prolonged dry weather.

There are expectations drought could be declared for some parts of England such as southern and eastern areas, prompting action by agencies and water companies to manage water resources to ensure supplies and protect the environment.

It comes as the London Fire Brigade were called at 11:36am to a fire at Hollow Ponds on Whipps Cross Road in Leytonstone, where around 75 square metres of grass and shrub land were alight. Two fire engines and around 10 firefighters attended the scene and the inferno was under control around an hour later. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

The Met Office raised its Fire Severity Index to exceptional – the highest level – today for much of southern England, and Wales alongside an amber, as the mercury is forecast to climb to ‘lethally hot’ temperatures of 35C (95F) over the weekend. The warning system also been at its second highest level of alert for seven weeks, which is the longest stretch since 1976.

It comes as a double heat warning has been put in place by experts amid increasing heatwave temperatures that are set to soar, with Manchester set to reach 31C (88F), London 33C (91.4F), while Portsmouth will reach a balmy 29C (84F) today – albeit not quite as high as the record-breaking 40.3C blast experienced last month.

The heat is likely to affect health, transport and working conditions, meteorologists said, as water companies are being urged to protect essential supplies heading into a ‘likely very dry autumn’.

National Highways have also urged Britons to be ‘prepared’ with bottles of water before setting out amid more train strikes scheduled this weekend.

Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said: ‘The risk is very high across much of central, southern and eastern England. Going into Friday and the weekend, it starts to increase further, going into the highest category of exceptional risk.’

Britain has been told to brace for a sweltering heatwave this week as a Level 3 Heat Health Alert also came into effect Tuesday and has been extended until Saturday – with little rain expected to help relieve the threat of drought which has prompted hosepipe bans and fire warnings.

Mark Hardingham, the chairman of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said that he ‘can’t remember a summer like this’ in his entire 32-year career in the fire service.

He told The Telegraph: ‘We’re not going to see temperatures as hot as we saw three weeks ago, but that doesn’t matter because the ground couldn’t get any drier than it already is.

‘The wildfires are as prevalent in semi-urban areas as they are in rural communities so it’s difficult to know where the next one will be.’

It comes as firefighters are tackling a village field fire in Leicestershire this afternoon as temperatures soar across the county.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service were called to reports of a “substantial fire involving crop” in Sutton Cheney, north of Hinckley.

Crews were first alerted to the scene in Bosworth Road at 12.46pm and are still tackling the blaze.

People have been asked to avoid the area while the fire is dealt with. Leicestershire Police has also been called to the scene.

Meanwhile, London Fire Brigade said its control room had dealt with 340 grass, rubbish and open land fires during the first week of August – an eightfold increase on the 42 during the same week last year.

Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Smith said: ‘This summer has seen an unprecedented long, dry spell with high temperatures, so the grass in London is tinderbox dry and the smallest of sparks can start a blaze which could cause devastation.

‘Despite our continued warning over the last few weeks, we know there are still people who are barbecuing in parks, dropping cigarettes out of car windows and leaving rubbish lying around.

‘We really need to prevent a repeat of the situation we saw on July 19, when homes, shops, garages, outbuildings and vehicles were destroyed across London in a number of significant fires.

‘So please – we are asking Londoners to help us protect the city we all love by doing everything you can to prevent further grass fires. Please don’t barbecue in open spaces or balconies, throw your rubbish away safely and put your cigarettes out properly.’

Riccardo La Torre, national officer for the Fire Brigades Union, has also warned that services across the UK are ‘completely unprepared’ for the level of risk posed by the imminent heatwave.

Mr La Torre told Sky News: ‘These are brutal, brutal fires to fight. The temperature that they burn at, the speed at which they spread at.

‘The reality is we’ve been left completely unprepared to do that as a fire and rescue service.

‘We’ve had over a fifth of the workforce cut since 2010, that’s over 11,500 firefighters cut. Yet we’re asking them to deal with these extreme weather events in increasing regularity and increasing severity.

‘The professionals on the ground have been warning that these conditions are coming and we very much saw the reality of that in these last few weeks.

‘Firefighters have been injured, firefighters have ended up in hospital, we’ve seen families lose their homes, we’ve seen businesses lost, infrastructure burn to the ground, because we simply can’t get to these fires quick enough.

‘When we do, we simply don’t have the resources to deal with them adequately.’

Jonathan Smith, assistant commissioner at London Fire Brigade, has said ‘we’re not out of the woods as far as this heatwave is concerned’, as he urged people to avoid using disposable barbecues and take care when extinguishing cigarettes.

Mr Smith added: ‘We’re urging the public to think about and modify their behaviour over the course of the next four days in particular to take that pressure off the emergency services… we’re not out of the woods as far as this heatwave is concerned.’

Meanwhile, Met Office boss Paul Davies said the increasing heatwave temperatures may now occur once every five years – and annually by the end of the century.

He told The Mirror: ‘When I started out as a ­forecaster, if someone had said in your lifetime you’ll see 40 degrees, I’d have said; ‘No, surely not!’.

‘We are in uncharted waters. We’re entering areas we’ve never experienced before and it’s not just the UK, it’s the planet as a whole.’

See the article here: dailymail.co.uk

Bold emphasis added

From the comments about wildfires, you’d think the ground is that hot that fires spontaneously break out.

Grass has to reach 300C before it ignites, and there is nowhere on the planet that occurs, so most of the fires will be caused by carelessly dropped cigarette butts, barbeques in public spaces, discarded glass magnifying the Sun’s rays, and arson cannot be rules out. Climate extrtemists are known to deliberately start fires.

Notice the subtle wording in the Met Office comment that ‘heatwaves’ may get worse. May, not will, but alarmists and believers will take that as will not may.

I echo the words of Richard Taylor of Talk TV yesterday, it’s summer, go out and enjoy the nice weather.

We’re not children. We do not need to be told to stay hydrated, nor do we need reminding to plaster ourselves with factor 2000 radiation-proof suncream.

The forecast for Birmingham for the weekend is 92 on Saturday, and 90 on Sunday. I will report the actual temperatures I measured in Birmingham, and add a comment to this article on Monday.

About the author: Andy Rowlands is a university graduate in space science and British Principia Scientific International researcher, writer and editor who co-edited the new climate science book, ‘The Sky Dragon Slayers: Victory Lap‘

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