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Summer heatwave on way

Feeling hot: Temperatures could soar soon
Rebecca Smith|Evening Standard
13 April 2012

Predictions of a scorching summer today prompted the Government to send out a warning on how to cope in a heatwave.

The Met Office has issued an alert that temperatures in July and August could match the 101F recorded in Kent in 2003.

Now the Department of Health says it will distribute leaflets telling people how to keep cool and protect themselves from the sun.

The warnings come two years after a heatwave that led to the deaths of 2,000 people in Britain and 27,000 across Europe.

Experts have updated their plans and advice on how to deal with hot temperatures, which can prove fatal for vulnerable people such as the elderly. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said lessons had to be learned from the thousands of death in 2003.

He said: "As the experience in 2003 demonstrated, it is particularly important that for those over 75, especially those who live alone or in residential homes, that the necessary precautions are taken to avoid serious harm through heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

"The leaflet is designed to provide the public with common sense precautions that will help people to enjoy the weather while protecting themselves from the dangerous, and potentially fatal, effects of these temperatures."

The Met Office long-range predictions-suggest the weather will be unusually warm this summer, with temperatures higher than the average of 22C (71F).

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "There is certainly a possibility that we will have hot spells. Our latest indications are for higher than average temperatures." The highest recorded temperature measured in Britain was 38.5C - over 101F - in Kent on 10 August 2003. The scorching temperatures will mean more misery for Tube passengers.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has offered a £100,000 prize to anyone who can find a workable way to keep the Underground cool, but although he is due to make an announcement on the plans next week, relief will not be on the way for years yet and certainly not in time for this summer.

New trains being introduced on the sub-surface lines - including the Circle and District - will have air conditioning units fitted, but even that won't happen until 2009.

...AS IF WE DIDN'T KNOW

The public information leaflet, called Heatwave, contains such useful advice as:

  • If a heatwave is forecast, try to plan your day in a way that allows you to stay out of the heat.
  • If you can, avoid going out in the hottest part of the day (11am-3pm).
  • If you must go out, stay in the shade. Wear a hat and light, loose-fitting clothes, preferably cotton.
  • If you will be outside for some time, take plenty of water with you.
  • Take cool showers or baths and splash yourself several times a day with cold water, particularly your face and the back of your neck.
  • Try to eat more cold food, particularly salads and fruit, which contain water.
  • Look after older people as they are much more prone to the effects of heat.
  • If you have older relatives or neighbours you can help simply by checking on them if possible every day, and reminding them to drink plenty and often. They should have a mixture of drinks, including fruit juice and water.
  • Help them to keep their houses as cool as possible, drawing curtains, opening windows at night or using a fan if necessary.

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