Brits are being urged to stay indoors and stay cool as temperatures soar this week
Brits are looking for ways to stay cool during the heatwave (Image: PA )
Temperatures could soar as high as 40C in some parts of England this week.
A red weather warning for extreme heat will come into force on Wednesday, with forecasters warning those affected that there could be serious health impacts.
People are being urged to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day to avoid getting dehydrated which may lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The Met Office advises keeping windows and doors closed during the day to keep the cooler air inside.
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But even with the windows closed, homes can still heat up very quickly during a heatwave and many Brits will be looking for additional ways to stay cool.
Some experts recommend blocking the sun before it has the chance to hit your windows. While drawing your curtains might help to keep it cooler inside, hanging something up on the outside of your windows may be more effective.
Kevin Pennington, owner of Lancashire Air Conditioning, suggests using bed sheets to cover the outside of your windows to stop the sun from hitting them directly.
He said: “If you have south-facing windows, you might want to consider putting sheets or newspaper on the outside of the windows to stop the sun from touching the window and getting into your house.”
He added: “It looks absolutely horrendous, but is massively effective. It can reduce the heat gain by up to 80 to 90 per cent with the right sheet.”
While air conditioners aren’t very common in UK homes, some experts suggest making your own DIY version to get cool air circulating around your home.
Mr Pennington suggested freezing an empty ice cream tub with water inside it which you can then place in front of a fan. “As the air blows towards the ice, the ice absorbs heat from it, and it is noticeably cooler,” he said. “However, this is only effective for a short amount of time because eventually it just turns to warm water as you’re blowing energy at it and warming it up.”
The Met Office’s red weather warning will be in effect from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday. It covers a large area of England that stretches from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham.
Forecasters have said the temperature could come close to the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C which was measured in July 2022.
The hot conditions, which have been very rare in the UK until now, will be accompanied by high humidity and very warm nights, which will make it hard for people to recover overnight.
Dr Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “We are forecasting extreme temperatures in the next few days, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday, when it looks like we’ll be seeing maximum temperatures into the high 30s.
“But also we are stressing very high overnight temperatures which will be very uncomfortable for vulnerable groups, and very humid conditions as well.”
Dr Lang said the conditions would far exceed the heat seen in June in the past, and was on “a much bigger scale” than the heatwave the UK experienced recently at the end of May.