UK heatwave: How to keep your home, family and pets cool

Britain’s hot summer isn’t over yet

The UK heatwave, the fourth of the summer, is set to push temperatures to 35C today, with the Midlands, south and east of England bearing the brunt.

After 43 largely rain-free days, the heat has already triggered wildfire warnings and left millions reaching, once again, for the fan they thought they had packed away.

The trouble, as anyone who lived through the last spell knows, is that the heat rarely lasts a single day before fading to a breezy 22C.

Forecasters expect it to linger through the week, and sustained warmth is what turns homes stuffy, wrecks sleep, and leaves pets and older relatives struggling.

The good news is that a few sensible steps, most of them cheap, can take the edge off. Here is what the experts suggest.

Cooling your home in the heatwave

Getting ahead of the rush is half the battle.

When the last hot spell hit, retailer Wayfair reported that searches for portable air conditioning units soared by an eye-watering 1,220%, while searches for fans jumped 528% in a single week and stock vanished almost as quickly.

Portable units now start from around £35, and shoppers have also been snapping up an ice-fuelled air cooler to bring room temperatures down fast without a big outlay.

You do not need to spend anything to make a real difference, though.

Keep curtains and blinds drawn on the sunny side of the house during the day to block out solar heat, and open windows on opposite sides of the home only once the outside air has cooled in the evening to create a through-draught.

Swapping heavy bedding for lighter, breathable cotton or linen helps you sleep, and closing internal doors keeps the coolest rooms cool for longer.

Protecting pets and skin

Pets feel the heat as keenly as we do, but cannot do much about it themselves.

A vet from Green Pastures Vets recommends keeping cats indoors on the very hottest days, "where it's a little bit cooler", with plenty of access to water and to litter trays so they need not venture outside if they would rather not.

The vet's main tip is a cooling mat the animal can lie on when it chooses.

Dog owners, meanwhile, are advised not to walk their animals during the peak heat, when pavements can scald paws.

People need protecting too and not only outdoors.

A Harvard Medical School doctor, Trisha Pasricha, says she wears sun cream indoors and even on her commute.

Writing in a recent column, she explained that people in the United States tend to get more skin cancers on their left side, while Australians see more damage on the right, the difference being UVA exposure through the car window while driving.

Those same rays, which drive skin ageing and cancer, pass through glass at home and in the office, so with skin-cancer risk rising alongside the sunshine, SPF is worth applying even at your desk.

Planning ahead

With the mercury set to stay high, a little preparation goes a long way.

Stock up on cooling kit before it sells out, move pets and older or vulnerable relatives into the coolest rooms, keep curtains closed and stay hydrated throughout the day.

The wider disruption is already being felt: schools have shut across the UK during previous heatwaves, and transport and workplaces feel the strain too.

Treat this as the start of a hot week rather than a one-off, and today's 35C peak will feel a lot more manageable.