Britons share their heatwave misery on Twitter with droves complaining they’re too hot to work

Britons today shared their heatwave misery on social media ahead of expected 106F (40C) temperatures in some parts of the country.

The UK is set to be hotter than the Sahara Desert today and tomorrow, with chaos expected on the transport network.

Before 9am, temperatures had already climbed to 77F (25C). 

Health chiefs have told patients to stay away from hospitals amid fears they will be overwhelmed. 

Amid the warnings, social media users took to Twitter to complain about the weather.  

Posting a picture from iconic game Super Mario Brothers, one wrote: ‘Remember that level in Super Mario 3 where the sun is trying to kill you? That’s today.’ 

Above an image of the Wicked Witch of the West from the iconic film the Wizard of Oz, another wrote: ‘Happy melty Monday everybody.’

And above a picture of singer Beyonce’s new album, where she is seen sitting scantily-clad on a horse, a third Twitter user joked: ‘Remember to dress appropriately for the extreme temperature conditions. I’ve got my outfit sorted.’ 

Above an image of the Wicked Witch of the West from the iconic film the Wizard of Oz, another wrote: ‘Happy melty Monday everybody’

Above a picture of singer Beyonce’s new album, where she is seen sitting scantily-clad on a horse, a third Twitter user joked: ‘Remember to dress appropriately for the extreme temperature conditions. I’ve got my outfit sorted’

The social media memes came as commuters endured chaos this morning and schools in the likes of Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire shut due to the extreme heat. 

On the Underground, the District, Central, Bakerloo and Jubilee lines all had severe delays while the Hammersmith & City Line was completely axed due to ‘heat related restrictions’ and there was no Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate. Transport for London told all passengers in the capital to avoid non-essential travel.

The scorching heat means the UK will be warmer than Nassau in the Bahamas (32C), Kingston in Jamaica (33C), Malaga in Spain (28C), Athens in Greece (35C), Albufeira in Portugal (28C) and Dakhla in the Western Sahara (24C).

Chief meteorologist at the Met Office Paul Davies warned that tonight will be very hot and it will be hard to sleep in the heat. He told Sky News: ‘Tonight will be very oppressive, I mean it’s actually difficult sleeping conditions. 

‘And tomorrow is the day where we are really concerned about a good chance now of hitting 40C or 41C, and with that all the health conditions that come with those higher temperatures.’

He also claimed that the rise in temperature is ‘entirely consistent’ with climate change and said the ‘brutality’ of the heat could become commonplace by the end of the century. 

 

Dozens of Britons saw the funny side of the hot weather. One depicted the sun from the children’s TV show the Teletubbies shouting at the characters: ‘I will end you!!!!’. Another showed a portrait of diarist Samuel Pepys – who wrote about the Great Fire of London – and said: ‘I spent the fiery heat of 1666 in London and it never hut me and I still did my writing and dodged the plague you snowflakes. Makes ye think’ 

Mr Davies said the weather charts he had seen today were ‘astounding’ and unlike any he had observed throughout his 30-year career.

‘This is entirely consistent with climate change. To get 40 degrees in the UK we need that additional boost from human-induced climate,’ he said. ‘Well, I’ve been a meteorologist for about 30 years and I’ve never seen the charts I’ve seen today.

‘And the speed at which we are seeing these exceptionally high temperatures is broadly in line with what we were saying but to be honest, as a meteorologist, to see the brutality of the heat we’re expecting tomorrow, is quite astounding. 

‘And it does worry me a lot and my colleagues here at the Met Office that this sort of unprecedented heat could become a regular occurrence by the end of the century.’

Other Twitter users saw the funny side of the extreme heat. One posted a clip of the nuclear apocalypse from Terminator 2: Judgement Day

And Mr Davies said that even colleagues in hot countries like Spain and Portugal had described the scenes in the UK as ‘exceptional’.

The top forecaster said a ‘plume’ of heat pushing across Europe was affecting Britain differently.

A combination of that plume and human activity generating its own heat is contributing to the high temperatures, he said.

‘I was talking to my colleagues in Spain, Portugal and France over the weekend and they described this heat as exceptional too, and they’ve seen and observed amazing temperatures and, as I say, the brutality of that impact.

‘In terms of the UK, the heat which has been affecting Spain, Portugal and France is different towards us. So it’s the activity of that plume, and also us generating our own heat that’s causing the particular problems for tomorrow.’