Mercury could rocket to 29C as Britain embraces a late-spring heat wave, raising the spectre of global warming-related health issues.
Looking at the week ahead, the Met Office has confirmed it’s highly likely that new records will be set for April temperatures across the country.
Warm weather drew in over the past weekend and is now set to continue throughout this week, peaking on Wednesday and Thursday with the potential to hit 28 or 29C in the hottest regions. While the public is welcoming the pre-summer warmth, experts are warning the country is ill-prepared to cope with the direction of travel the world’s climate is now in.
A study by the University of East London [ UEL], based on the experience of 1,600 households during the 22 summer heatwave – in which parts of the UK reached a rarely-seen 40C and above found that one third of homes were overheating. Symptoms included sleep disruption, headaches and fatigue, with some residents forced to reduce working hours.
Just 21% of British homes have air conditioning installed, a sevenfold increase since 2011. Although this offers some respite to occupants, it also adds further strain to the National Grid, consuming more energy and, in turn, contributing further to the overall environmental crisis, albeit the pivot towards renewable energy – now accounting for around 50% of total consumption – does help mitigate this to some extent.
‘British homes are designed to retain heat, not lose it,’ said Dr Mehri Khosravi, a leading expert in climate-responsive design at UEL’s Sustainability Research Institute (SRI). ‘Even the most energy-efficient buildings – those rated EPC A and B – are twice as likely to overheat without adequate ventilation according to the results. This is not just a building design issue; it’s a public health issue, and a behavioural one too.’
The UEL study also identified a significant disconnect in the public’s understanding of risks posed by extreme heat and methods of staying cool to deal with this. It is thought that during 2022 there were almost 4,500 excess deaths as a result of the heatwaves.
Image: Dana DeVolk / Unsplash
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