2022 United Kingdom Heat Wave

The 2022 United Kingdom heatwaves were part of several heatwaves across Europe and North Africa. The United Kingdom experienced three heatwaves; the first was for three days in June, the second for three days in July, and the third for six days in August. These were periods of unusually hot weather caused by rising high pressure up from the European continent. There were also more grass fires and wildfires than average, and in August a drought was declared in many regions.

The Met Office issued its first red warning for extreme heat on 8 July, which was affected all of central and southern England and was in place for 18 and 19 July. On 15 July, it declared a national emergency after the red warning was put in place. On 19 July, a record temperature of was recorded and verified by the Met Office in Coningsby, England, breaking the previous record set in 2019 of in Cambridge, England. The heatwaves caused substantial disruption to transportation.

Climatologists say the extreme heat was due to climate change.

June heatwave

On the three days from 15 June to 17 June, temperatures in Kew, London, reached at least , the official heatwave threshold at that location for that time of year. On 17 June, a high of was recorded in Santon Downham reported that "suggestions that there is nothing unusual about this heatwave appear to have found a willing audience among climate change sceptics". An image circulated on social media claiming that the colour scale of new style Met Office forecast maps had been "designed to look like fear and destruction", with the meteorologist who had created the map's colour scales saying that although the scale had been altered in 2021 for the benefit of colour blind viewers, the image being shared had been doctored to exaggerate this.

On 19 July 2022, Extinction Rebellion activists smashed windows of The News Building in London in response to coverage of the heatwave by '' The Sun'' and ''The Times''.

Writing for the ''Columbia Journalism Review'', journalist Jon Allsop criticised right-leaning British publications in particular for downplaying and detracting from the effects on the hottest days before covering them more seriously following the series of wildfires. He analysed American media coverage and determined it to be heavily focused on the United Kingdom despite heatwaves elsewhere in Europe, the United States and the Global South due to inequity and the image of a "cold and wet Britain". Allsop also found that, while climate change has had more attention in stories on the heatwave, media exploration of its role and impact is still limited and lacking.

Analysis

On 7 October 2022, a joint report published by the Office for National Statistics and UK Health Security Agency indicated there had been 3,000 more deaths in England and Wales than would usually be expected during the summer, the highest number of excessive deaths since 2004. The report indicated that most of the extra deaths occurred in those aged over 65, and in the hottest days towards the end of July.

Met Office data published on 14 October 2022 indicated that temperature records were broken at 56 of the UK's 109 oldest weather stations during the July heat wave.

See also

References

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2022 heat waves
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2022 disasters in the United Kingdom