Temperatures are set to reach highs of 30C in the coming days.
Households in the UK are being warned to keep their windows and curtains closed from now today until Tuesday because of rising temperatures.
While many harbour the belief that leaving your windows open to let a breeze in is the best way to keep your home cool during high temperatures, the opposite is actually the best way to ensure comfort and relief from the heat.
Advice from the UK Health Security Agency suggests that closing your windows and keeping the blinds down is the best way to make sure you arrive home to a cool and relieving home in the evening.
With highs of 33C in some parts of the UK, we’re all collectively dreading to go the bed in our sauna/bedroom tonight.
The hot weather is set to continue until early tomorrow, despite the interruption of thunderstorms through the night.
The heatwave is expected to fade and give way to rain, thunder and more unsettled conditions, according to forecasters.
Instead of opening your windows wide and inviting the heat in to engulf your home, it is much easier to prevent a room from getting hot by blocking direct sunlight.
Shutting blinds and curtains during the day can keep a room cool.
It’s also wise to open all internal doors if you’re trying to cool a room down, as this will maximise airflow through the house.
It is counter-intuitive to use appliances that generate heat in a room you are trying to cool, so keep this in mind before deciding to use ovens, hair dryers or other electrical appliances.
Earlier this year, the UKHSA issued a ‘Beat the heat’ checklist to help people create the best conditions for surviving high temperatures at home.
The article lists seven things you can do to reduce heat in your home over the next couple of days.
- If possible, shade or cover windows.
- Open windows (when it is safe to do so) when the air feels cooler outside, for example at night, and try to get air flowing through the home.
- Use electric fans if the air temperature is below 35°C, but do not aim the fan directly at your body as this can lead to dehydration.
- Check that your heating is turned off.
- To reduce heat generated in the home, turn off lights and electrical equipment that are not in use and consider cooking at cooler times of the day.
- Move to a cooler part of the house, especially for sleeping if possible.
- It may be cooler outside in the shade or in a public building (such as places of worship, local libraries, or supermarkets) so consider a visit as a way of cooling down if you are able to safely travel there without putting yourself at more risk from the heat.
According to weather reports, the weather will peak on Monday with 34C highs in London and the south, forecasters say.
The heatwave is likely to be broken up by a thunderstorm as the remnants of Storm Debby sweep the country, with everywhere feeling the brunt.
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The Met Office forecast for August 15 onwards explains: “Through the middle of August, a mobile westerly pattern is expected. A series of low-pressure systems are likely to track eastwards, mainly over or to the north of Scotland but perhaps also further south at times.
“The associated fronts will bring spells of cloud and rain at times, perhaps occasionally accompanied by rather breezy or unseasonably windy conditions in places, but interspersed with brighter, more showery periods. Most of the wet weather will tend to be focused in the west and northwest, with longer drier spells further south and east.
“Temperatures overall will be close to or perhaps a little below average, however there is a small possibility of very warm conditions returning to parts of the south and east, this perhaps most likely later in the period.”
