A new yellow heat health alert has been issued across the south of England and parts of the Midlands, as more hot weather is expected to reach the UK this weekend.
The warning is in place from midday on Saturday 4 July until 5pm on Wednesday 8 July and covers the East Midlands, South East, South West, east of England and London.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the hot weather could have an impact across health and social care services.
It comes after the hottest UK temperature for June was recorded last month.
The Met Office has said that temperatures can be expected to rise on the weekend, with a return of heatwave conditions looking “increasingly likely”.
Tony Wisson, Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster, said: “The forecast for this weekend suggests that temperatures could approach high 20sC across parts of England, perhaps 30C in parts of the southeast, with values of mid to high 20sC in Wales.”
“Although a return to heatwave conditions is looking increasingly likely for some areas, the likelihood of such extreme high temperatures or high levels of humidity as last week is currently low.”
The UKHSA says that yellow alerts are issued when minor impacts are likely across health and social care services due to the hot weather.
This includes increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people, greater risk to life of vulnerable people, higher potential for it to become very warm indoors, and a possible increase in water-related incidents like cold-water shock and drowning.
The agency issued a rare red heat health alert for several regions in the UK last weekend, with the rest under amber alert.
The Met Office reported a new record temperature for June on Friday, at 37.3C, recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk. It is awaiting verification that this was beaten in Lingwood, in Norfolk, by a temperature of 37.7C.
Either surpasses the 35.6C set in Southampton in June 1976.
More follows on this breaking news story. Subscribe here to get the latest updates from The Independent…