“Temperatures didn’t fall below 25 C (77 F) in places, exceeding the previous highest daily minimum record of 23.9 C (75.02 F), recorded in Brighton on 3rd August 1990,” it said in a tweet.
The Met Office warned that Tuesday’s extreme heat could lead to “serious illness or danger to life.” As a result, it has said that “substantial changes in working practices and daily routines will be required.”
It also warned of a “high risk of failure” of heat-sensitive systems and equipment, which could lead to localized losses of power and other essential services, including water or cellphone services.
The soaring temperatures have already had a major impact on travel, with London Luton Airport on Monday forced to temporarily suspend flights to allow for a runway repair after it said high surface temperatures “caused a small section of the runway to lift.” The issue was fixed and the runway was fully operational within hours.
In the capital, London’s busy Oxford Circus station was evacuated Tuesday morning following reports of smoke from an escalator machine room.
The London Fire Brigade said the smoke was due to escalator brake pads overheating.
Network Rail, which runs most of the railway network in Britain, issued a “do not travel warning” for services traveling through the “red zone” Tuesday. Meanwhile, other rail and train services have been canceled or reduced due to the extreme heat warning.
The rail network also recorded its “hottest rail,” which clocked in at 144 F.
While the U.K. has experienced warm weather before, scientists have said these soaring temperatures are becoming increasingly common due to climate change propelled by the greenhouse gases that humans are pumping into the atmosphere.
Snell noted that this week’s hot weather came after scientists for decades predicted increasing heatwaves and other extreme weather due to climate change.
“We can’t directly link everything to climate change, but what we can probably say is that this heatwave has probably been enhanced by climate change,” he said.
In Britain, many homes and businesses are not equipped to deal with high temperatures, with air conditioning uncommon outside of offices and public spaces, while many homes were built in the 1800s and have thick brick walls that absorb heat in the day and retain it at night.
Politicians and government advisers have increasingly warned that homes and essential services in the U.K. must be adapted to prepare for rising temperatures in the years to come.
“The planet is hotter than it’s been for 125,000 years. We’ve got 1 degree of warming so far, but I don’t want to be a doom-monger, but we’re going to get more than 1 degree of warming, that’s the average, and that will mean more extreme heat … and we are not ready as a country,” Ed Miliband, Britain’s shadow climate change secretary, told Sky News, which is owned by NBC News’ parent company, Comcast.
In the U.K., the “shadow cabinet” consists of opposition members who scrutinize the policies and practices of their corresponding government ministers and propose alternatives.
“We are not ready on this at all,” Miliband said. “Not by a long shot.”
In Spain, shocking video emerged this week of a man in the northwestern town of Tábara forced to jump from an excavator after trying to dig a trench to safeguard his town from a wildfire.
As the blaze closed in and started to engulf the digger, Angel Martin Arjona was forced to jump out and run for his life, Reuters reported.
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