Met office RED WARNING for extreme heat.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

General discussion is www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/4583720-we-need-to-talk-about-the-weather-and-the-potential-for-extreme-heat but I wanted this to be seen by as many people as possible.
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2022-07-18

horrible nights sleep last night as it felt so muggy and warm, even though it was only 20 degrees overnight. Kids didn’t sleep well either and I can feel a headache coming.

I had my fan on all last night, so I slept okay. DCat and I have just had a wander in the garden, as it's cooler now (and I've put the bins and recycling out 😂).

The bin lorries started doing the rounds at 5am

Hopefully won't get any post today or tomorrow.

What do you mean? Why would it explode?

What's wrong with us is reactionary denialists are preventing Britain from modernising because they keep harking back to a fictionalised past that only exists in their simple minds.

1976 was a big deal.

I used a loose neck buff soaked in water then put in the freezer for a short while last night. Towels are too heavy for me and slip off.

Morning all! Anyone catch the surprise rain/thunderstorms that developed on the leading edge of the plume?

No change in the models. Apart from timing of when records will tumble, the only questions really are on Wednesday - how long eastern areas will cling on to heat and the development of any thunderstorms or rain.

Just been round and closed windows blinds and curtains. It is 25 inside which feels quite cool but does not give much of a gap to feels hot at 27.

Ds not going to school

A storm skirted round the North of Plymouth yesterday. Fascinating to watch we could see rain falling from the clouds but we were dry. Wind gusts also picked up for a while which was cooling - then it moved east and the heat came back.

Oh it did post before the thread crashed!

DS school has allowed pupils that are vulnerable to heat to ring in absent.

Lovely weather outside right now - shame is 7.30 not 2.30 😅 Going to shut the house up on about an hour or so I think. Sadly the DCs top floor (townhouse) bedrooms are horrid even after having the window open all night so I imagine I’m just going to shut the doors on them and pretend that they don’t exists for a few days, everyone can camp on mattresses downstairs.

I've just travelled to work on (non-air conditioned) train and tube. All fine although it won't be so pleasant later. Nice to see though that Londoners appear to have ignored Khan's doom laden messages about staying at home. Lots of linen dresses, shorts and not a cardigan in sight!

I’m also in a thatch and agree it stays lovely and cool (although the Aga makes a big difference to that). I have been worried a bit about the impact of the heat on the thatch - I have nightmares about thatch fires - but have no rational reason for that worry.

Freezing the rubber will damage it and it will start to perish at the seams. When you put hot water in it will leak. Just make sure to buy another one ready for the winter.

At 11pm ish we had a few drops of rain. Sadly it lasted for a few minutes only but my goodness I've never been so glad to hear rain. The smell after was incredible.
Reminded me of the bush in Africa early am .

I hoped it would last longer to wet the earth a little

Just picked raspberries in full sun. Sun is so strong already, I am dripping 🥵🥵🥵

It's very overcast here on the Somerset/Dorset border. Clouds are very high but there is a consistent covering of them and it's actually bordering on cool with the breeze! I expect it'll burn off soon, but I'm taking advantage of the breeze into the house first.

I've frozen some bags of water to put in bowls in front of the fan to cool the air it's blowing out. Hope it works.

When I lived in Nigeria my house (and many of those in the village) had thatched roofs. Much cooler than the more modern wriggly tin and no, no risk of fire from the dun (from sparks from cooking fires maybe but even then I can't remember one ever going up).
I loved my roof - bushbabies used to live in it (also big hairy spiders and the occasional tree snake).

I've frozen some bags of water to put in bowls in front of the fan to cool the air it's blowing out. Hope it works

I've tried that in the past. It didn't work - made no difference at all.

28 here in Cheshire, I work from home and am officially boiling!

Darn it, the suns come out now and the temperature has rocketed. Still got some pretty mammatus clouds going on though.

The rain smell last night was amazing, wasn't it? So earthy. Apparently it's called Petrichor and made up of ozone, geosmin and soil bacteria.

If anyone wants a candle that smells like it

https://www.thebotanicalcandleco.co.uk/collections/amber-glass-jar-soy-wax-candles/products/late-summer-scented-soy-candles-in-amber-jars?variant=35829809414306

It's like dried out grass, hot sun, and then the rain hitting the hot roads

Temperatures have already reached 32c quite widely across London and Cambridge areas.