New heat health alerts have been issued for large parts of the UK as the country braces for a fresh heatwave later this week.
London, South East, South West, East Midlands, West Midlands and East of England have all been issued a Yellow heat health alert by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
After a few cooler days temperatures are set to soar to 30C across the UK later this week. The hot weather is forecast from Thursday and set to continue into the weekend.
The Met Office has predicted temperatures will hit 30C in London, Manchester, York, Birmingham and Cardiff on Saturday.
A heat warning is set to be in place between 10am 9 July 2025 until 10am 15 July 2025, UKHSA has said.
Alerts provide an early warning system to authorities and the public to show when temperatures may hit dangerous levels. They are colour coded from green (no alert), yellow, amber, to red (emergency response).
A yellow alert indicates that weather conditions may affect vulnerable people, while an amber alert warns that conditions could impact the wider population, putting pressure on health services.
A red alert signifies a significant risk to life for the whole population.
The yellow alert follows amber heat health alerts in late June that saw temperatures reach 34C in the south east.
A high of 34.7C was recorded in St James’s Park in central London on 1 July in the afternoon by the Met Office, beating the previous warmest day of the year on 21 June, where a scorching 33.2C was recorded in Charlwood, Surrey.
A study by Met Office scientists revealed that the chance of the UK exceeding 40C is now 20 times more likely than it was in 1960s.
The UK first recorded temperatures above 40C in July 2022, as Coningsby in Lincolnshire reached 40.3C in continental Europe’s hottest summer.
The increasingly extreme weather patterns have already caused wildfires, disruptions to power and transport and increased mortality, the Met Office said.
“Because our climate continues to warm, we can expect the chance to keep rising. We estimate a 50-50 chance of seeing a 40C day again in the next 12 years,” Dr Gillian Kay, senior scientist at the Met Office said.
“We also found that temperatures several degrees higher than we saw in July 2022 are possible in today’s climate.”
