Brrr-ace yourselves(Yes, honestly, the heatwave's over... before it began!)

Heatwave cancelled.
Holidaymakers on 
Blackpool beach 
yesterdayHolidaymakers on 
Blackpool beach 
yesterday
Holidaymakers on Blackpool beach yesterday

And as usual the forecasts were just too good to be true.

While the Fylde Coast basks in warm and sunny weather today, the experts who promised a second “scorchio” of the summer this week now admit they were a touch optimistic.

The predicted Spanish plume, due to bring temperatures of 30C and above to many parts of the UK, has been knocked off course by a sudden change of wind.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It now looks like the wind is coming from a cooler direction, so not from Spain as we thought,” confessed Greg Dewhurst from the Met Office.

“We’re still going to see temperatures in the mid-20s quite widely with light winds and lots of sunshine. So it will still feel lovely out there. It will be warm rather than hot. But it could be a lot worse.”

Having revised their predictions, the forecasters say that, while the thermometer will not be rising to the heights it did last month, we are still in for a decent week.

Today is expected to touch 24C in Blackpool, or 75F in old money. Tomorrow and Thursday will continue to be warm, although there is now said to be an increasing risk of thundery showers feeding in from the south west.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

By Friday the mercury is likely to drop back down to 18C or 19C with rain even more of a possibility. And, while temperatures will lift slightly to around 20C for the weekend, that could be it for August.

The manager of the popular ice cream business Notarianni’s in Waterloo Road admitted he and his staff would be “doing a sun dance” this week to keep the tropical weather in the resort.

“I would love a nice heatwave,” said Luca Notarianni. “We did very well when we had that really hot spell last month and I hope we can do just as well if this good weather continues.

“As you’d expect, the ice cream trade is always good when the sun shines. You need good spells of weather in this business to keep you going.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Yesterday was pretty good and I’m hoping it continues right through this week.”

Last month the UK felt the burn for at least four days as another plume of hot air from Spain and Portugal swept up the country, peaking in Lancashire at just over 30C, a good three degrees below the high in London.

The capital was taking precautions against a repeat this week with Thames Water preparing to pump an extra 450m litres into the network to cope with demand.

Meanwhile, ambulance bosses in the North West are preparing for a spike in call-outs caused by the weather.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At the height of the mini-heatwave a month ago the service had to cope with a huge 15 per cent increase in 999 emergencies.

“We had an absolutely crazy 24 hours around the 19th of July,” said a spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service. “That is a huge increase.”

on what is already a high number of 999 calls.

“Hot weather triggers conditions like respiratory problems in the young and old alike. Hopefully it won’t be as bad this week.”