A yellow health alert will come into effect this lunchtime (Wednesday, June 18) as the country braces itself for a heatwave.
The UK Health Security Agency issued the West Midlands alert, along with several more across England, earlier this week.
The alert for the region will begin at 12pm and end at 6pm on Sunday (June 22).
It has a risk score of 10, which means it has a low likelihood, but with medium impacts.
What can we expect?
According to the UKHSA, there could be significant impacts are possible across health and social care services due to the high temperatures, including:
- a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. There may also be impacts on younger age groups
- a likely increase in demand for health services
- internal temperatures in care settings (hospitals and care homes) may exceed the recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment
- the heat affecting the ability of the workforce to deliver services
- indoor environments overheating increasing the risk to vulnerable people living independently in community and care settings
What is the Met Office saying?
Despite a grey start in places across England and Wales, today is set to be a dry day with very warm sunshine and dry and mild overnight.
Then, looking ahead to the next few days, there will be high pressure that will give most areas plenty of dry and settled weather with very warm or hot sunshine. However, some showers are possible in the west, which could turn thundery.
What are these heat alerts?
The Heat-Health Alert Service in England runs from June 1 to September 30 each year, in partnership with the Met Office. This is the period when high temperatures are likely to occur.
A spokesperson said: "If we observe high temperatures outside of this period, we will issue an extraordinary heat health alert. If this happens, stakeholders should take the usual public health actions."
Can we expect more of this going forward?
According to the Met Office, a new study has highlighted how UK heatwaves could become longer and hotter due to escalating climate trends.
Dr Gillian Kay, senior scientist at the Met Office, and lead author, explained: "The chance of exceeding 40°C has been rapidly increasing, and it is now over 20 times more likely than it was in the 1960s.
"Because our climate continues to warm, we can expect the chance to keep rising.
"We estimate a 50-50 chance of seeing a 40°C day again in the next 12 years. We also found that temperatures several degrees higher than we saw in July 2022 are possible in today’s climate.”
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