Don’t sweat: It won’t be a repeat of 1976
The weather of June 2017 has mirrored that of 1976 – but that doesn’t mean we are heading for a drought.
Experts today said talk of a long hit summer ahead were likely to be way off the mark.
After Britain this week sizzled during the hottest June day in 41 years, memories of one seemingly never-ending heatwave have come flooding back.
The summer of 1976 was certainly a hot one with nine weeks of blazing sunshine leaving the countryside brown and parched, road surfaces melting, and in the end, believe it or not, people praying for rain.
And it had all started with similar scenes to what we have seen this past week with temperatures regularly soaring above 30C (86F).
But forecasters say the heatwave was a passing phase – and today’s cooler conditions are likely to be more typical of the way ahead.
On Wednesday, the hottest temperature was 34.5C (94F) recorded at Heathrow.
During the summer of 1976, which brought widespread drought, five days saw temperatures exceed 35C. While the hottest day of all was July 3, with temperatures reaching 35.9C (96.6F) in Cheltenham.
Eventually the autumn brought intense rainfall, which came as a relief to farmers and was welcomed by everyone who had become fed up of feeling too hot.
The Met Office’s current forecast for the next 30 days includes spells of sunny days and rain up to the end of July as the weather throws everything at us.
Spokesman Oli Claydon said there wasn’t anything on the horizon in the next seven days to suggest another heatwave was imminent.
And it seems we can thank colder air coming in from the Atlantic for that.
The forecast shows we can expect cooler temperatures and blustery showers, giving us time to recover from our recent hot spell, followed by sunnier days, still with a chance of rain, heading into July.
Drier and warmer spells are likely to become more prevalent during the second week of July, however, an increase in temperatures also poses the threat of some thundery showers.
The other good news is that our reservoirs don’t seem to have suffered as a result of the recent hot weather with Severn Trent Water saying it has no reason to worry about water levels.
Raw water storage levels are currently at a healthy level of 86.1 per cent of capacity - although the company still wants people to use their water responsibly to help preserve stocks.
Spokesman Jonathan Smith said: “We’re certainly comfortable with where we are but we would always encourage our customers to think about the way they use water.”
Advice includes taking shorter showers during hot spells and limiting the use of hoses to water gardens and wash cars.
