Currently in Boston — July 18th, 2022

The weather, currently.

It's been an incredibly dry stretch of weather as of late and the drought is firmly in place. There will be more clouds and the chance for afternoon showers on Monday along with higher humidity and temperatures in the 80s. The showers come to an end Monday night and that will set us up for mainly dry weather the rest of the week. There could be an additional shower Tuesday but less likely. Temperatures will be at or slightly above 90°F and if areas have three days in a row of 90°F that would be the first heat wave of the season. The nights are also going to be uncomfortably warm this week.

—Dave Epstein

What you need to know, currently.

Monday and Tuesday are expected to be the two hottest days in UK history, with temperatures forecast to reach 40 deg C (104 deg F) there for the first time ever.

In a conversation with Currently on Sunday, UK Met Office climate scientist Richard Betts issued a strong warning.

“It's clear that the UK is not ready for such high temperatures,” said Betts. “Transport networks, railways, energy systems, buildings and so on — which have been set up for the climate that used to be — are not ready for the temperatures we're expecting.

”Buildings in the UK tend to be built to keep warm in winter, and only 0.5% of residential homes in the UK have air conditioning. For both days, the UK Met Office has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a Red Warning, the nation’s highest weather alert level — equivalent to a national emergency.

This is the first time the UK Met Office has ever issued a forecast of 40 deg C. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom was 38.7 deg C (101.7 deg F) on July 25th in 2019 at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

“There's a 90% chance that record is gonna be broken,” said Betts.

Listen to our full conversation with Richard Betts on the UK heatwave.

—Eric Holthaus