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BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Hot weather and heat warnings in place in UK for this week
Temperatures across the UK are expected to rise this week, with the fourth heatwave of the summer on its way for some and yellow heat health alerts have been issued in England, from 12:00 BST on Monday until 18:00 on Wednesday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA ) and the Met weather alerts are used to warn the public when high temperatures might be a risk to hottest weather will be in central and southern England, where temperatures are predicted to peak at around 34 degrees celcius on Tuesday. According to the Met Office - who monitor the weather in the UK - the hot weather is being caused by a combination of high pressure and a southerly airflow, which is being blown up from parts of Europe, that are currently experiencing extreme levels of France, the city of Nimes recorded its highest ever August temperature on record on Sunday with parts of England and Wales will see temperatures in the mid to high 20s this week. London will see slightly higher temperatures of around 30C, whilst Scotland and Northern Ireland will remain a little cooler with temperatures in the low 20s. What is a heat health alert? The weather health alert system was introduced in June 2023 and is run by the UKHSA and the Met was designed to help reduce illness by improving communication during times of extreme weather. Each warning has a different No warningYellow: Vulnerable people likely to be affectedAmber: Conditions could affect the whole populationRed: A significant danger to life What is a heatwave? Some parts of the UK might reach the Met Office's official criteria for a heatwave this is when a place records at least three days in a row with daily maximum temperatures that meet or are hotter than the heatwave temperature threshold for that area. How to stay cool during a heatwave? Wear sunscreen - but remember to reapply them often - every two hours - to ensure they sure you have some sunglasses and a hat or headscarf to protect your eyes and the top of your lots of water to stay hydrated, and eat snacks to keep your energy a bit of shade where you can and rest if you get too can wear long-sleeved and loose fitting clothing to help keep you cool and protect you from the Sun's out of the Sun between the hours of 12pm and 3pm - this is when it is usually hottest.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Most popular meteor shower of the YEAR peaks tomorrow with up to 150 fireballs shooting overhead every hour - here's the best time to catch the stunning celestial display
If you're a keen stargazer, be sure to keep your eyes on the sky tomorrow night. On Tuesday evening, the Perseid Meteor Shower will reach its dazzling peak - and you won't want to miss it. At the height of the yearly display, you'll be able to spot as many as 150 fireballs shooting overhead every hour. And with the Met Office currently forecasting clear skies over most of England and Wales, this could be one of the year's best opportunities to see some shooting stars. However, the remaining light from the recent full Sturgeon Moon might make it hard to spot some of the fainter meteors. But if you don't manage to spot any fireballs this Tuesday, there's no need to worry. Although they will be at their most stunning tomorrow night, you'll still be able to catch the Perseids until August 24. So, here's the best time to catch the spectacular celestial display. How to see the Perseid Meteor Shower If you want to get the best chance of seeing the Perseid Meteor Shower, the most important thing will be avoiding any unnecessary sources of light. Since it is summertime, that means you'll need to wait until at least 10:00 pm for the sky to be dark enough. Meteor showers tend to become more impressive towards midnight when the sky is darkest, so be prepared for a late night if you want the best view. Dr Edward Bloomer, senior astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told Daily Mail: 'Try and get somewhere dark, and crucially let your eyes adjust to the dark. 'It's a physical process, so it will take a while. Basically, put your phone away, relax, and be a little patient.' Dr Bloomer recommends taking at least half an hour to allow your eyes to reach maximum sensitivity. Once your eyes have adapted to the dark, all you need to do is sit back and look at the sky. WHERE DO METEORS COME FROM? Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. When comets come around the sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. Every year, Earth passes through these debris trails, letting the bits collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate, creating fiery streaks in the sky. Source: NASA Although they can peak at 150 shooting stars per hour, the Perseids may come in fits and starts, so don't be put off if you go a few minutes without seeing anything. 'The meteor shower will appear to 'radiate' from the constellation Perseus, so that's your best bet,' says Dr Bloomer. You can find Perseus in the Northeast, near the constellation Cassiopeia, which you should be able to recognise by the bright 'W' or 'M' of stars. Dr Bloomer adds: 'If that part of the sky is obscured, don't worry; the shooting stars can appear in any part of the sky.' You can also try looking at other regions of the sky to catch the shooting stars in your peripheral vision, which tends to be a little more light sensitive. The good news for any budding astronomers is that you won't need any special equipment to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. Dr Shyam Balaji, of King's College London, told Daily Mail: 'It is one of the fastest and brightest meteor showers of the year, so an astronomical highlight for stargazers. 'For me personally, I think the best way to view the meteor shower is just with your naked eye because of the speed with which they move. 'But you could use Sky Guide or Stellarium, or other stargazing apps, to get a better viewing experience, to target the right regions of the sky to see the meteor shower.' To make things even better, the Met Office is currently forecasting good conditions for much of the UK. Tom Morgan, operational meteorologist at the Met Office, told Daily Mail: 'Tonight will see quite a lot of cloud over the country, but southern England may turn clearer during the early hours. 'Tomorrow night will generally see clearer skies than tonight with Wales, central England and northern England having the most prolonged clear periods during the evening but some clear periods likely in many parts of the UK at times and into the early hours of Wednesday morning. What is the Perseid Meteor Shower? Like all annual meteor showers, the Perseids are caused by the Earth sweeping through a cloud of orbiting dust. 'The Perseid meteor shower is caused by the Earth travelling through the debris left by a comet called Swift-Tuttle,' says Dr Balaji. Since this patch of dust is always in the same place within Earth's orbit, the Perseids always occur at the same time of year and appear from the same point in the sky. As the Earth moves through the debris cloud, tiny pieces of rock and dust hit the atmosphere at 37 miles (59 kilometres) per second. The intense heat produced by the friction of that impact burns up the meteors in seconds. The smallest pieces of rock vaporise to leave bright trails that we see as shooting stars, while the larger chunks explode into fireballs. Although we don't know exactly when the Perseids started, the first sightings date back nearly 2,000 years to early records from ancient China. WHY DO METEORS MAKE A SOUND? Meteors are fragments of space rock that enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up as a result of the friction created when they pass through, appearing as bright streaks of light in the sky. As well as light, this friction also creates sound, with some meteors creating a 'sonic boom' as they break the sound barrier, in a similar way to a fast-moving aircraft. Since meteors can be over a hundred kilometres in altitude, and their sound waves travel much slower than the light they generate, the sonic boom is often not heard until many minutes after the flash is seen. The boom will also only be loud enough to hear from Earth if the meteor is particularly large, enters the stratosphere below an altitude of about 30 miles (50 km) and explodes as a bolide, or fireball. As well as the boom, some stargazers claim to have heard hissing and buzzing sounds at the same time as a meteor is seen. This is because meteors also give off very low frequency radio waves, which travel at the speed of light. These are inaudible, but can cause physical objects on the Earth's surface to vibrate and produce a sound, which our ears may interpret as hissing.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
What are the UK weather records for August?
The hottest August temperature recorded in the UK is 38.5C, which was reached in Faversham in Kent on August 10 2003. The last time temperatures for the month came close to equalling this record was in 2020, when a peak of 36.4C was measured at both Heathrow and Kew Gardens in London on August 7, according to Met Office data. In 2024 a peak of 34.8C was reached on August 12 at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge. The 30C mark has been passed in August somewhere in the UK in most years in the past decade, except for 2017, 2021 and 2023. The highest temperature so far this month is 27.8C, which was measured at Astwood Bank in Worcestershire on August 10. The 30C is likely to be passed this week, as the UK is set to experience its fourth heatwave of the summer. The average warmest August on record was in 1995, when the mean temperature for the UK across the month was 17.3C. The most recent year to appear in the top 10 warmest Augusts is 2022, which ranks in fifth place with a mean average of 16.6C. Met Office data for temperature begins in 1884. The UK's sunniest August on record was in 1947, when an average of 259.5 hours of sunshine were measured during the month. The most recent year to appear in the top 10 sunniest Augusts is – again – 2022, sitting in fourth place with 208.5 hours. Met Office data for sunshine starts in 1910. The driest August since records began was in 1947, when an average of just 9.9mm of rain was measured across the UK. The top 10 driest Augusts include only one year in the 21st century, 2003, which is in fourth place with 26.7mm rain. Rainfall records begin in 1836.
