Thousands may have died in UK's exceptional May and June heatwaves

Thousands may have died in UK's exceptional May and June heatwaves More than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes during the UK's exceptionally hot weather in May and June, experts' estimates suggest. The figure, from a team at Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is based on what's known about the dangers of extreme heat. Most deaths will have occurred in the June heatwave, they say - the warmest June on record in England, when temperatures hit 37.7C (99.9F) at Lingwood, Norfolk, smashing the previous high of 35.6C (96F) set in 1957. A rare red heat alert, external was issued for parts of England and Wales at the time, warning even healthy people of the significant risk to life. May temperatures, meanwhile, hit a new UK high of 35.1C at Kew Gardens on May 26 - a significant increase on the previous high mark of 32.8C, which had been set back in 1922 and equalled in 1944.