Category Archives: Summer

UK set for hottest day of year on Sunday at 27C – followed by thunderstorms

Posted on by

Top temperatures expected, but heavy rain to follow with weather warnings in place for week ahead

Britain will experience its hottest temperatures of the year on Sunday – before thunderstorms and heavy rain bring an end to the sunny conditions that the country has enjoyed over the past few days.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures will peak at around 27C before the wet weather arrives. Western areas, including parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will be the first to encounter the storms.

Continue reading...

Italy heatwave could push temperatures close to European record

Posted on by

High pressure forecast to raise temperatures to 48C as hot weather sweeps Spain, France, Germany and Poland

Temperatures in Italy could get close to breaking a European record this week as a fierce heatwave grips much of the continent.

An anticyclone – an area of high pressure – named Cerberus will cause temperatures to exceed 40C (104F) across much of the country by Wednesday, with the islands of Sicily and Sardinia predicted to bear the brunt at 47-48C.

Continue reading...

Does Covid-19 follow a similar seasonal pattern to flu?

Posted on by

Anticipating the seasonality of coronavirus is a key factor in fighting its spread, say scientists

It is well known that influenza is seasonal, peaking in the winter in temperate regions and during the wet season in tropical locations. So does Covid-19 follow a similar seasonal pattern?

To answer this question scientists compared coronavirus rates between March 2020 and March 2021 from five countries – Canada, Germany, India, Ethiopia and Chile – with daily mean temperature, humidity, ultraviolet radiation and air-drying capacity (a measure of how quickly droplets evaporate).

Continue reading...

August brings fierce heat to Europe and storms to Atlantic

Posted on by

Weather conditions this month include soaring temperatures and earliest-forming ‘J’ storm

A heatwave has brought sweltering conditions to much of north-west Europe and the UK this month. Temperatures have exceeded 30C (86F) across France for several days, climbing to the low 40s in the south-west of the country. The heat has exacerbated a drought, with 72 of 96 regional departments subject to water restrictions.

Europe is not alone in experiencing intense heat. High temperatures in California have resulted in increased demand for electricity as residents increasingly rely on air conditioning.

Continue reading...

Country diary: lockdown brings a wild quiet to populated places

Posted on by

Wharfedale, Yorkshire: There are moments of beauty, but the silence can also be eerie and strange, or mask an underlying hostility

In Lower Wharfedale, there are new kinds of silences everywhere. Around Beacon Hill, on the Chevin, the seismic roar of aircraft booming off to Edinburgh or Alicante from the airport nearby has given way to the white noise of a sunny heath in April; a silence textured with the bee-charged buzz of a goat willow, the delicate song of a dunnock, or the soft gloops of mating frogs in a pond. Along the verdant stretch of the Wharfe near Otley Mills, where peace is usually eclipsed by the rush of traffic on the A660, birdsong glitters in the fresh green trees like sun in a stream, and a dipper alerts me to its presence with the tiniest of chirps.

Related: Name that song - it's the perfect time to learn to identify birds

Continue reading...

UK records hottest day of year so far

Posted on by

Temperature hits 30.8C in Surrey with London forecast to be hotter than Hawaii

Britain has recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures predicted to soar as high as 35C (95F) in London and southern England.

Shortly before midday on Saturday the Met Office said a temperature of 30.8C had been recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, and that it could approach the all-time record for June of 35.6C, reached in Southampton in 1976.

Continue reading...