Ready to sizzle! Britain is set for its hottest day of the year TODAY as temperatures soar to 95F
Ready to sizzle! Britain is set for its hottest day of the year TODAY as temperatures soar to 95F making it warmer than the Costa del Sol
- Heat will sweep much of central and southern England, and temperatures will be slightly cooler elsewhere
- But thunderstorms could roll in in parts of the south of England in the afternoon, dampening summer fun
- Sunseekers were already enjoying the warm-up yesterday with temperatures peaking at 29.6C (85.3F)
By Joe Middleton For Mailonline
Published: 02:32 EDT, 31 July 2020 | Updated: 03:11 EDT, 31 July 2020
Britain is set for its hottest day of the year so far today, as temperatures could reach 35C (95F) making it hotter than the Costa del Sol.
Disappointed holiday-goers may take some comfort from the scorching temperatures, with many parts of the UK braced to be hotter than mainland Europe.
The hot weather will be widespread across south eastern areas in Kent and Cambridgeshire, where temperatures will stay around 93.2F (33-34C). Manchester is expected to peak at 89.6F (32C) and parts of Wales will also reach 30C (86F).
A spokesman for the Met added that popular south-coast destinations such as Devon, Cornwall will stay ‘fresher’, with temperatures peaking in the mid 20s, and sunseekers in Brighton will enjoy a pleasant 82.4F (28C) high.
Popular tourist spots on the continent including Ibiza, Lisbon and Berlin fall short of the UK high, reaching 33C (91.4F), 30C (86F) and 25C (77F) respectively.
Sunseekers were already enjoying the warm-up yesterday as many flocked to the South Coast with temperatures peaking at 29.6C (85.3F).
Beaches everywhere were packed. Thousands descended on resorts from Cornwall to sunspots such as Lyme Regis in Dorset and Camber Sands in East Sussex as they soaked up the heat – mirroring scenes in May and early June as lockdown restrictions were eased. The sea at Woolacombe in Devon was busy with surfers as families crowded on to the popular beach.
Many coastal favourites around the country are now reportedly fully booked until the end of September as trippers opt for staycations rather than risking foreign travel.
A survey by MailOnline asked 20 of the top campsites in Cornwall and 15 in Dorset if they had any space for two adults to stay a week from today. Not one had a spare lodge, pitch or campervan space.
In other places prices have soared, with one four-star hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, costing almost £350 a night.
The current warm spell is due to a plume of warm air being drawn north from France and Spain. Beachgoers have been urged to take precautions, including wearing sun cream and hats, as levels of ultraviolet radiation are predicted to be high.
The sun rises as seen from Hampstead Heath on what is set to be one of the hottest day of the year so far
Female Wild Swimmers, two girls in a kayak and paddle boarders enjoyed the sunrise activity at Portobello in Edinburgh
Sunbathers and holidaymakers flock to the beach at the seaside resort of Lyme Regis in Dorset on a day of scorching hot sunshine and clear blue skies
Tourists enjoy bodyboarding and surfing at the beach in Polzeath. Tourists are slowly returning to Cornwall after lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus were eased
Crowds clog up Lyme Regis in Dorset in similar scenes to May and the start of June before the weather turned wet across the UK
Sunbathers and holidaymakers flock to the beach at the seaside resort of Lyme Regis in Dorset on a day of scorching hot sunshine and clear blue skies
Visitors to Westgate Gardens in Canterbury make the most of the warm late July weather by enjoying rides in punts on the River Great Stour
The 500 mile-wide ‘Spanish plume’ blowing to Britain from Spain as Britain enjoyed mini-heatwave with 84F sizzler on Thursday
Travel giant Tui closes 166 High Street stores in UK and Ireland in move that could hit 900 workers as jobs bloodbath continues
Holiday giant Tui is closing 166 high street stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the UK’s biggest tour operator has announced.
The decision was made following changes in customer behaviour as a result of the pandemic, the firm said in a statement, with the Anglo-German company calling COVID-19 the ‘greatest crisis’ the airline industry has ever faced.
It announced it would cut 8,000 roles worldwide after posting losses of £747million in 2020 compared to £255million in the same period last year.
Tui said that it would seek to move 70 per cent of the 900 staff affected by the closures to homeworking sales and services roles, and it would aim to relocate other employees in the remaining high street stores.
But the heatwave, which will bring temperatures similar to those expected in Ibiza or the Costa del Sol, is not due to last long as cooler conditions will move in through tomorrow and Sunday.
Andy Page from the Met Office said: ‘The bulk of England and Wales will have dry, very warm and sunny weather to end the week with Friday likely to be the hottest day of the year so far for the UK.
‘A few thunderstorms are possible later on Friday and then a cold front moves eastwards by Saturday.’
The warmest day of the year so far was June 25 with 33.4C (92.1F) recorded at Heathrow.
The hottest places today will be in London and in parts of the South East, which could see 35C (95F). But even Leeds and Manchester are set to reach 31C (88F), while 26C (79F) is expected in Newcastle upon Tyne and West Wales.
But tomorrow, temperatures are expected to reach only 25C (77F) in London and East Anglia. Further west and north, temperatures are unlikely to exceed 22C (72F).
A mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers is expected on Sunday. And for the first ten days of August, the Met Office predicts that the unsettled conditions will continue.
The UK average temperature for this month is currently on course to be just 13.9C (57F) – one degree less than the 1981-2010 long-term average of 15.2C (59.3F), it said.
The cool temperatures and wet weather are due to low pressure systems and weather fronts coming through, as well as ‘unseasonal’ winds – gusts of up to 50mph were recorded on Monday.
The UK has already surpassed 100 per cent of the average monthly rainfall and only experienced two thirds (66 per cent) of the expected sunshine for an average July – a total of 113.4 hours, Met Office figures show.
In recent years, the average July temperature has exceeded the average, hitting 16.4C (61.5F) and 17.2C (63F) in 2019 and 2018 respectively, it said.
Meanwhile Jane Pendlebury, executive director of the Hospitality Professionals Association, a hotel industry association, said a UK staycation could be a favourable option for holidaymakers.
She said: ‘Of course, the threat of regional outbreaks is real, but the restrictions imposed won’t be as impactful – with returning home from within the UK far easier than doing so from abroad.
Tourists enjoy bodyboarding and surfing at the beach in Polzeath. Tourists are slowly returning to Cornwall after lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus were eased
Tourists enjoy bodyboarding and surfing at the beach in Polzeath. Tourists are slowly returning to Cornwall after lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus were eased
Tourists enjoy bodyboarding and surfing at the beach in Polzeath. Tourists are slowly returning to Cornwall after lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus were eased
‘Whilst we can’t necessarily offer the same weather as the Balearics or the Canaries, what we can do is offer exceptional hospitality – albeit with necessary precautions in place.’
Tour operator TUI has taken the blanket decision to cancel all its planned holidays to mainland Spain until August 9.
Meanwhile, British campsites and holiday home operators, such as Sykes Cottages, have enjoyed a surge in bookings.
Sykes’ chief executive Graham Donoghue told the BBC: ‘News of Spain’s travel restrictions at the weekend resulted in a 53 percent year-on-year rise in bookings. We’re also seeing a steady stream of bookings for holidays in 2021 too.’
The Whitbread group, which owns the Premier Inn hotel chain, said it had seen strong demand in summer bookings for hotel rooms in tourist hotspots since the beginning of July.
The exclusive department store Fortnum and Mason is even offering a dedicated ‘perfect staycation’ package – including a picnic basket, champagne and tea, of course.
But even if more Britons decide to stay put this year, it is unlikely to make up the shortfall for the tourism sector, which is pleading with the government for help to weather the crisis.
VisitBritain, British tourism’s lobbying body, estimates that the number of foreign tourists could fall by as much as 60 percent this year due to the pandemic.
The Labour opposition has already warned of an unemployment crisis, with rates rising faster than the national average in the English regions most dependent on tourism such as Cornwall (south-west), Yorkshire (north) and the Lake District (north-west).
Destinations popular with foreign tourists, such as Bath, southwest England, are also struggling to draw in the crowds.
The sight of a few tourists milling around the city’s famous Roman Baths is in stark contrast to the usual throng that packs out the city, which normally welcomes around six million visitors a year.
‘It’s not even a quarter of the business that we usually get. I’d say it’s like two to three percent,’ Marcus Barnes said as he cleaned the front of his souvenir shop.
The local authorities have introduced new measures, such as limiting the size of groups visiting the city, in an attempt to woo potential holidaymakers.
Stephen Bird from the city council, said: ‘We think that if we can…have fewer people coming but staying longer, putting more into the local economy, actually getting more out of their visit, then that will be a more sustainable model for the future.’
The few intrepid tourists spotted on the streets seemed reassured. Cieran Fowley, who lives in London, said: ‘You’re starting to see the sanitisation at hotels, the social distancing, so all in all I feel comfortable.’
