Essex heat-health warning issued ahead of 'heatwave'

After an "unseasonal" start to July with a heavy rain weather warning issued earlier this week, temperatures are finally expected to rise over the weekend.

Temperatures on Friday going into the weekend are set to hit 30C during the daytime in Basildon and 18C at night, with brilliant sunshine forecast.

Across the weekend, south Essex will see highs of 29C cooling down to 24C by Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of this "mini-heatwave", the Met Office and UK Health and Security Agency have issued a yellow heat-health alert from 5pm tomorrow until 11pm on Saturday.

Heatwave - a three-day forecast for Basildon (Image: Canva)

The alert warns of minor impacts across the health and social care sector, including an increased use of healthcare services and and increase in risk of mortality among "the vulnerable population".

It also says there will be an "increased potential for indoor environments to become very warm".

What is a Met Office heat health alert?

Heat-health alerts are issued when the country is expecting high or low temperatures that could have an impact on health.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection at UKHSA, explained: “Our heat-health alerting system plays a vital role in notifying professionals and the public of forecasted high temperatures that can affect the health of those most at risk, particularly individuals over the age of 65 and those with pre-existing health conditions.

“Last year saw record high temperatures across England and evidence shows that heatwaves are likely to occur more often, be more intense and last longer in the years and decades ahead. It is important we are able to quantify the likely impacts of these heatwaves before they arrive to prevent illness and reduce the number of deaths.

“We look forward to collaborating with the Met Office to provide evidence-based advice to professionals and the public, to ensure they are well-equipped to respond to these events.”