UK Heatwave – Weather Specials

William Hill hopes to cash in on summer sun with new weather specials

Novelty Betting & Other Events Betting

So what actually constitutes a heatwave?

Global warming suggest the population of the UK would be best finding out as hot, though wetter summers, are forecast as the seas warm and the overall temperature of the planet goes up a notch or two.

The World Meteorological Organization defines a heatwave as marked unusual hot weather over a region persisting at least two consecutive days. Now, to me, two days does not a summer make but, if that’s the official marker, then whom am I to argue. High pressure systems do tend to be slow moving and can persist over an area for a prolonged period of time, even weeks, and the British Isles are vulnerable due to the vagaries of the gulf stream, which is usually to the north of the UK in the summer so, therefore, pushes warm weather south.

The sun is also at its highest in June and July in the UK so heat can build up over several days if there is no cloud cover. The lack of a meaningful breeze will also make temperatures climb and lead to the inevitable headlines that London is hotter than Athens, Majorca or Rio de Janeiro, though Britain’s is still a temperate climate so it can never last as it does in countries much nearer the equator.

Last year, Britain basked in the hottest June day recorded in over 40 years when temperatures hit a peak 34.5C at Heathrow airport. I wonder if the building of a third runway and the accompanying increase in air traffic would raise the core temperature there? The hottest day on record remains recorded in west London in 2015 and William Hill have added a couple of weather specials to their portfolio, especially for the occasion.

Normally punters can only get odds on the amount of snow to fall on Christmas Day but William Hill are offering 5/1 that the UK Summer Temperature exceeds 100 degrees farenheit in 2018 (37.78 degrees celcius for all those who weren’t at school before 1970) and will lay 8/1 that the UK Record Summer Temperature (38.5 degrees celcius or 98.5 degrees farenheit) is broken at any time in 2018. Now that really would justify the age-old headline, ‘Phew, What A Scorcher!’