Road turns to molten tarmac and sticks to tyres and flip flops in heatwave
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Texas is still facing more floods. When will rains finally end?
A flood watch blanketed Texas Hill Country on Monday, after a weekend of back-to-back flood watches and more heavy rains. Yet another high-end flood event struck the beleaguered region on Sunday, with a 30-foot rise in water levels along the Lampasas River. Some places saw 8 to 10 inches of rainfall Saturday night into Sunday.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
These Met Office maps show the UK areas where summers are getting hottest
The UK is breaking heat and rainfall records far more often as the country's climate continues to rise, according to a new Met Office report. The latest State of the UK Climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, details the climate in 2024. It looks at how temperatures have changed over the long term, and highlights how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990. Over the past decade, in some parts of the UK, the hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days, according to the report. The report shows how different parts of the country have borne the brunt of this shift in the climate. Here, Yahoo News has included maps showing where summers have been getting the hottest in the UK. The latest report shows a stark contrast between maximum annual temperatures between the first half of the 20th century and now – with a significant shift occurring from the 1990s and onwards. Below are a set of maps showing the average number of days per year in which the highest maximum temperature for each county of the UK has exceeded 28C. As shown above, the milestone was reached more often in the period of 1931 to 1960, compared to 1961 to 1990. The difference is particularly noticeable in the South and South East of England, although there was less change in London and Hampshire. In its report, the Met Office does note "some annual and decadal variability in the UK's climate in addition to the ongoing warming due to climate change". While the period from 1961 to 1990 was relatively period, with hotter days more persistent in the south of the country, the two maps below show a sharp uptick in temperatures from the 1990s. The period of 1991 to 2020 saw a substantial increase in days breaching the 28C milestone, again most notably in the South and South East. From 2015 to 2024, the change appears more extreme, with many parts of the South West, Wales, the Midlands and North experiencing an unprecedented number of 28C days since records began. To put this change into perspective, the UK's average highest maximum temperature over the most recent decade of 2015–2024 was 35.9C - 2.3C higher than 1991–2020 and 4.5C higher than 1961–1990. Explaining why this is happening, the report says climate change has a "much greater effect on the extremes of temperature than the mean". "Observations show that extreme weather events are to be expected each year as an integral part of the UK's climate. As has been fairly typical in recent years, floods and storms brought the worst impacts in 2024," it adds. Four of the five warmest summers on record for England have occurred since 2003, Met Office data shows, suggesting we are in a period of intensifying hot weather. All of the top 10 warmest years – according to mean temperature – have occurred since the year 2000. Research published by the Met Office in June warns that heatwaves in the UK "could become longer and hotter due to escalating climate trends". Temperatures hit 40C in the UK for the first time on record in July 2022, but scientists say the chance of exceeding this threshold has been "rapidly increasing". Senior Met Office scientist Dr Gillian Kay and lead author of last month's report, said the chance of this happening "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 40C 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." Heatwaves, where maximum temperature thresholds (set at different values across the country) persist for three consecutive days or more, are also likely to get longer, the study suggests. Senior Met Office science fellow and co-author of the report, Dr Nick Dunstone, said: "Our study finds that in today's climate such conditions could persist for a month or more. "These findings highlight the need to prepare and plan for the impacts of rising temperatures now, so we can better protect public health, infrastructure, and the environment from the growing threat of extreme heat." Map shows areas at risk of hosepipe ban as third region hit with restriction (Yahoo News) Scrap exams in June because of 'hot school halls', expert says (The Independent) Extreme heat could lead to 30,000 deaths a year in England and Wales by 2070s, say scientists (The Guardian)
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Million more face hosepipe ban after dry spell
About a million more people will face a hosepipe ban as Thames Water announced the move following one of the driest springs on record. Thames Water has brought in a temporary ban for about 1.1 million customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Swindon, most of Wiltshire and parts of Berkshire, from July 22. London has avoided the ban, which will be applied to postcodes beginning with OX, GL, SN, RG4, RG8 and RG9. The water company has asked customers not to use hosepipes, including for cleaning cars, watering plants, filling pools or cleaning windows. It is the latest to announce a ban after the UK experienced its warmest spring on record and the driest in more than 50 years. It was the warmest June on record in England. The Environment Agency has placed the areas covered by Thames Water into the 'prolonged dry weather category' and the water company says its drought plan is designed to mitigate the risk of further impact on water supplies and ensure taps can keep running. Businesses which use water as a core part of their purpose, such as garden centres and car washes, will be exempt. In an announcement on its website, Thames Water said: 'This year, the UK experienced one of its warmest and driest springs in over a century. June was also England's warmest on record. The Environment Agency has put our area into the prolonged dry weather category. 'That's why we need to bring in a hosepipe ban. It will help protect the environment and make sure there's enough water to go around this summer.' Bans are already in place in several parts of the country. Yorkshire Water has implemented one, affecting households in York, Leeds, Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield. South East Water has one in place from July 18, which will affect homes and businesses in Ashford, Canterbury, Eastbourne, Maidstone, Haywards Heath and Royal Tunbridge Wells.
