The Met Office has issued a four-day amber extreme heat warning, meaning vulnerable people’s health could be impacted and travel could be disrupted.
The warning applies to southern and central England and parts of Wales from midnight on Thursday until Sunday.
Temperatures are set to reach up to 35C (95F) in some areas and Thames Water has become the latest water firm to announce hosepipe ban plans.
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy has died in a lake in Hertfordshire.
Emergency services were called to North Met Lake, off Cadmore Lane in Cheshunt, just after 17:00 BST on Monday, with his body recovered six hours later, police said.
The amber alert is the longest the Met Office has issued since it introduced the warning system in 2021 and is lower than the first-ever red warning in July, when temperatures exceeded 40C for the first time.
But the Met Office said while temperatures this week would remain below last month’s record highs, this heatwave could last longer.
The Met Office warning is one of several alerts aimed at preparing the country for the heat:
- A level-three heat-health alert will apply from Tuesday to Sunday in central and southern England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. This “requires social and healthcare services to target specific actions at high-risk groups”
- A level-two alert has been issued for northern England
- The Met Office’s fire severity index is “very high” for most of England and Wales and will reach “exceptional” for parts of England by the weekend. This assesses how severe a fire could become if one starts
While the warnings remain lower than those issued during last month’s record temperatures, the UKHSA’s Dr Agostinho Sousa emphasised it was important vulnerable people, like the elderly who live alone or anyone with underlying health conditions, were “prepared for coping during the hot weather”.
“The most important advice is to ensure they stay hydrated, keep cool and take steps to prevent their homes from overheating,” he added.
Disabled people could be particularly affected by heat, and may suffer fatigue, difficulty regulating their body temperatures, or problems moving to cooler spots in the home, Fazilet Hadi, from Disability Rights UK, said.
England had its driest July this year since 1935, according to the Met Office, while south-east and central southern England had the driest month since records began in 1836.
Between the start of this year and 6 August, the south-east recorded 144 days with average rainfall of less than 0.5mm. Of those, 57 saw no rain at all.
Warnings of the threat posed by wildfires have been issued, with fire services urging people not to light bonfires or barbecues, or let off fireworks or sky lanterns.
On Tuesday, around 70 firefighters battled a blaze over five hectares (12.36 acres) of grass and shrubland in Enfield, north London, while there were also fires on the outskirts of Ipswich, in Northamptonshire and near Reading.
