School sports days are set to be axed this week as a 34C heatwave will make Britain hotter than Ibiza. Temperatures are set to peak a 34C on Thursday or Friday across the south east, making it more baking than the 30C Spanish party island this week.
And Department for Education chiefs have warned parents that schools could adapt to the roasting weather by rescheduling “physical activity” including sports days.
Some teachers have already scrapped the events while education unions said it was “inevitable” more will be shelved. Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: “We have got a heatwave on the way across parts of southern England and Wales.
“Elsewhere, it’s not as hot as we have got temperatures closer to average but they will climb as we go into next week. The northern areas of the country will be cloudier with spells of rain at times, so there’s a north/south split.”
Meanwhile, The UK Health Security Agency issued week-long yellow health alerts across the country which will run until Saturday in the third sizzler of the year. There is set to be highs of 29C in the south on Monday (July 60 before soaring past 30C. In the second half of the week temperatures will be in the high 20s in north-east England and eastern Scotland.
Areas on the western side of the UK such as Lancashire, the Lake District, western Scotland and Northern Ireland will be exposed to an Atlantic breeze and will see low to mid-20s.
BBC weather presenter Stav Danaos said: “The highest temperatures are expected in southern England and while maybe not as intense as the record-breaking heatwave in June, it may last a lot longer.” He added: “Currently many forecasting models show that the hot spell could persist into the middle of July.”
Elsewhere, Southern Water has issued a hosepipe pan from 12.01am on July 10 in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight. And South East Water’s temporary hosepipe ban for people living in Kent came into force last Friday.
The development comes as experts have estimated the recent heatwave to scorch Europe killed 17,000 and 25,000 people. Researchers have claimed the boiling weather June saw could have claimed more than 800 lives in the UK alone, as official death figures across Europe are still to be collected and analysed.
Christopher Callahan, a climate scientist who focuses on the economic and social impacts of climate change, has pulled back the lid on the fatal effects of the weather.
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