Heat health alerts across huge swathes of England have been upgraded to amber as the UK experiences its third heatwave of the summer.
A yellow heat health alert – indicating people with pre-existing health conditions, and those aged over 65, could be at higher risk – had been issued for the whole of England by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
But the alerts for the West and East Midlands, the South West, South East, the East of England and London have now been upgraded.
It comes as a hosepipe ban comes into force in Yorkshire, with further bans for parts of Kent and Sussex on the way.
An amber alert means services such as transport and health services could be impacted by the heat, and that there may be increased demand for power.
Check the latest weather forecast here
Temperatures could reach 32C in parts of central and southern England on Friday, with the heatwave expected to continue through the weekend.
The alerts are in place until 9am on Monday.
The Environment Agency has said England is experiencing its driest start to a year since 1976.
Reservoir levels fell at nearly three-quarters of sites during June and are below average in all regions.
Water storage at four sites is classed as “exceptionally low”. These are Blagdon in Somerset (62%), Blithfield in Staffordshire (59%), Derwent Valley in Derbyshire (58%) and the Yorkshire Supply Group (55%).
The agency added that rainfall in almost a third of the areas it monitors was classed as below normal in June, while one region – covering Leicester and its surrounding towns – saw “notably low” rainfall for the time of year.
For England as a whole, June marked the fifth consecutive month of below average rainfall.
‘Don’t get me going’: Tempers flare over hosepipe ban
It’s day one of a county-wide hosepipe ban in Yorkshire and customers at a garden centre in Bradford are furious.
Incredulity at not just the inconvenience the restrictions cause them, but the infrastructure they feel failed to prevent the situation.
“Don’t get me going,” says one man wheeling compost through the greenhouse.
“I think it’s a bit crazy. I grow a lot of bonsai trees; it’s hard watering them. It takes me a good couple of hours to water them, whereas before it’d be about 15 minutes.”
He then had a word for the nation’s water companies.
“It’s the shareholders. They ought to nationalise water again.”
Another couple, also shopping for plants, make a comparison with Europe.
“You go abroad and they’re never short of water… never,” she says, before he added: “We’ve just been to Greece and it was 32, 33 [degrees] everyday.
“They water the lawns, they water the flowers, is there a shortage of water there?”
In a play centre on the other side of a greenhouse, we spoke to grandparents looking after little ones as they darted in and out of ball pits and playpens.
For one woman we spoke to, three heatwaves so far this summer and repeated droughts have prompted not fury, but some thoughts on the future.
“We need to be aware of climate change and the changes we have to make in terms of how we live our lives she said.
“How it affects your children, how it affects yourselves, and just how we take care of ourselves.”
Hosepipe ban starts
The first hosepipe ban of the year has come into force in Yorkshire today – and more have been announced for other regions.
Yorkshire Water has put restrictions in place across the region in a bid to protect dwindling water levels.
They cover activities such as watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools.
Read more:
What July’s weather has in store
What you need to know about the hosepipe bans
The water level at Booth Wood Reservoir, Yorkshire, has dropped below average. Pic: PA
South East Water has also announced a hosepipe ban for the parts of Kent and Sussex it supplies.
It said demand for drinking water has reached “record levels since May”, adding: “This situation has left us with no choice but to restrict the use of hose pipes and sprinklers, so we can help our reservoirs and underground water storage recover.”
“If we don’t put a hosepipe ban in place now, there’s a really high risk of customers experiencing widespread issues such as low pressure or no water,” it said.
The ban will come into force on Monday 18 July.
Customers who ignore the bans could face fines of up to £1,000.
