UK arts are bracing for another day of scorching temperatures ahead of three days of yellow storm warnings. An orange weather warning for extreme heat is in place until 11.59pm on Sunday for large parts of southern, eastern, western, central and northern England as temperatures are forecast to reach 32C. The Met Office has put the warning in place saying people could face “adverse health effects” such as sunburn or heat exhaustion and transport delays during the hot weather. Water is sprayed on green soccer fields next to a dry pitch (Ben Birchall/PA) / PA Wire Lincolnshire Police confirmed that a teenage boy died on Saturday after going into the sea in Skegness after temperatures exceeded 30C in some parts of England.
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It comes after a body was found in a Doncaster lake earlier that day following reports that a man in his 20s had difficulty in the water. Meanwhile, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, there is a yellow warning for thunderstorms from 9am. on Sunday until 11:59 PM on Monday as the north experiences heavy rain for the next two days. The weatherman has warned of flash floods and power outages as showers lash the two regions. (PA Graphics) / PA Graphics The warning then spreads across England and Wales on Monday and Tuesday, with only south-west and south-east England facing a third day of yellow warnings on Wednesday until 11.59pm as the rain eases elsewhere. Dan Stroud, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the drastic change in weather was due to a change in atmospheric pressure. He told the PA news agency: “We’ve had several days now where we’ve had clear, strong, clear skies and strong sunshine which has warmed the ground. “We used to have high pressure, now low pressure dominates, so the air becomes more unstable. “As we’ve had some very warm ground temperatures, it doesn’t really take long for the air to become even more unstable and thunderstorms to develop quickly.” The warm weather has already seen a number of fires across England, with the latest blaze breaking out in the North York Moors National Park. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to the blaze on Saturday afternoon just after 6pm in Sutton Bank and firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the grass to prevent it spreading further. Forecasters have warned there is a “significant risk” of further fires on Sunday as the ground has been “extremely dry for an extended period”. Official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group (NDG), which is made up of representatives from the government, water companies, the Environment Agency (EA) and others. Three water companies – Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water – have all imposed pipe bans, while Yorkshire Water has announced a ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water is planning one in the coming weeks. Mr Stroud said despite heavy rain forecast over the next few days, it was unlikely to help the drought. “It will help a bit, but to be honest, it’s almost the wrong kind of rain,” he said. “What we’re likely to see is some heavy, heavy rainfall. With the soil baked so dry, it is very difficult for the soil to really absorb water very quickly. “So what tends to happen in those conditions is the water runs off and we probably have some surface runoff issues, so some flash flooding.” Residents in Surrey were left without water on Saturday after problems hit the Netley Mill Water Treatment Works. A hot air balloon flies over a blackened and parched golf course (Ben Birchall/PA) / PA Wire Water supplier Thames Water apologized and distributed bottled water to residents in Guilford, Surrey Hills, Dorking and Horsham while engineers worked to restore the supply. By Sunday morning the problem had been fixed, with residents saying water was “gradually returning to the area”. (PA Graphics) / PA Graphics Councilor Liz Townsend from Surrey County Council criticized Thames Water for supply issues during one of the hottest weekends of the year. He told BBC Breakfast: “This is happening more and more now with the warm weather. “We had this problem here last year as well. “And to be honest, the service is not fit for purpose now and residents are rightly very, very upset with what they have to put up with.” He added that Thames Water had “failed this time to meet the needs of vulnerable people in and around Cranleigh and Ewhurst” after receiving messages from elderly people saying they had not been delivered water. A statement from Thames Water said: “Netley Mill Water Treatment Works is now back in operation and the supply is gradually being restored to the local network. This will continue for the rest of the day. “We are very sorry that customers have been affected especially during a period of high temperatures. “When supplies start coming back, we’re asking customers to try to use it for basic use only at first. This will help us get supplies back to everyone faster. “We supply bottled water to customers we know need extra help. If anyone is unable to travel to a bottled water location, they should contact us on 0800 316 9800 and we will provide assistance.”
