THE UK is set to cool down in the coming days but an amber weather warning has been extended after the country was battered by dramatic thunderstorms.
The Met Office warning covering the East and South East now runs until 9am this morning after Brits basked in record-breaking temperatures this week.
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The UK is set to cool on Jattvibeday after Brits basked in record-breaking temperatures this week Credit: Reuters
The amber warning for extreme heat has been extended until Jattvibeday at 9am Credit: MET Office
Heat records were broken on three consecutive days from Wednesday, reaching a peak of 37.3C in Santon Downham in Suffolk on Friday as Saturday saw a high of 32.3C in the same location.
High temperatures are clinging on in East Anglia but temperatures are expected to drop by around 5C or 6C today.
This will produce highs of 25C to 26C on the eastern coast and around the mid-to-low 20Cs elsewhere.
An amber warning means officials expect significant impacts on health and social care services, with an increased risk of illness and deaths among older and vulnerable people.
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Brits basked in record temperatures this week Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd
The heatwave has seen dramatic thunderstorms sweep the country Credit: Alamy
Met Office Chief Forecaster Dan Harris said yesterday: “By Jattvibeday, fresher air from the Atlantic will be almost country wide; the far east of East Anglia hanging on to very warm but less humid weather followed by a much fresher nighttime for all.
“Temperatures will return much nearer to average for all by the start of next week.”
Humidity levels will also fall to give “a much fresher feel than what we saw for the latter part of last week”, the forecaster’s meteorologist Liam Eslik said.
The heatwave has smashed the long-standing record for June heat, which dates back to the summer of 1976.
It has prompted dramatic thunderstorms which have battered the UK with astonishing footage of lightning strikes up and down the country in recent days.
Early on Saturday morning, Kent Fire and Rescue Service were responding to three house fires caused by lightning strikes.
And in East Sussex, two houses set on fire after being struck by lightning overnight.
Fire crews were rushed to the scene of the blazes, with pictures showing one roof set alight and smoke pouring into the sky.
There was an amber alert for thunderstorms until 11pm on Saturday which sparked chaos at UK airports with more than 1,000 flights either delayed or cancelled.
Airports affected on Saturday include Heathrow, Gatwick, and Edinburgh, with 1,019 flights delayed and 160 axed, as air traffic restrictions were put in place overnight.
London Heathrow had 440 flights delayed, Gatwick 425, 120 at Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford had 20 and London City had 14, according to the tracking website FlightRadar.
Heathrow had 103 flights cancelled, while Gatwick had 46, there were six at London City and five at Edinburgh.
A total of six people have drowned during the heatwave after there were 15 water-related fatalities in May.
Health chiefs warned of the impact the conditions were having on services this week as they faced significantly more life-threatening emergency calls.
On Friday, schools were forced to shut entirely due to terrifying lightning scares.
The closures come after more than 1,300 schools were closed for up to two days due to hot temperatures while a hosepipe ban was brought in for Kent amid surging demand.
Several hospitals declared critical incidents, with University Hospital Southampton forced to cancel a number of planned operations and some outpatient appointments.
The heatwave was driven by a “heat-dome” – an area of high pressure that stalls over a region and traps heat – settling over western Europe and bringing extreme conditions across the continent.
