# A Heat Dome Just Shut Down the Very Climate Summit Meant to Tackle It, as Britain Braces for 39C

> The week London set aside to confront climate change has itself been derailed by record breaking heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 39 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and event after event being scrapped.

**Type:** article · **Category:** Science · **Published:** 2026-06-24 · **Source:** TrendKia
**Canonical:** https://trendkia.com/en/science/garmi-ki-mara-ne-london-ke-jalavayu-sammelana-ko-hi-chapeta-men-liya-39-digri-tapamana-ke-bicha-kai-vakta-pichhe-hate-2702 · **Language:** English
**Tags:** London Climate Action Week, Europe heatwave, heat dome, climate change, UK temperature record, London heat, Antonio Guterres

The week London reserved to grapple with climate change has been knocked sideways by the climate itself. Delivering a keynote on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it bluntly, “London isn't just calling, it's cooking.” His line was less a joke than a forecast coming true.

Britain's Met Office expects temperatures to climb to 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, a figure that would shatter the June record and brush up against the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country. The crisis stretches well beyond Britain. A deadly heatwave is rolling across Europe, with countries closing schools and nuclear plants and rail operators scaling back services to keep tracks from overheating.

## Why a Heat Dome Has Europe Trapped
Right now Europe sits beneath a vast, slow-moving zone of high-pressure air. It bottles up the warm air like a lid clamped on a pot, forming a “heat dome” that blocks other weather systems, including clouds and rain, from pushing through. The air keeps getting hotter, the ground heats up too, dries out, and grows even easier to warm. With global warming pushing the baseline temperature higher to begin with, the whole effect has been amplified.

## Sessions on Surviving Heat, Cancelled by the Heat
In London on Tuesday, organizers scrapped an event about extreme heat because the library hosting it has no air conditioning. The host, the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance, says the “very unpleasant” indoor conditions and sweltering journeys to the venue would have put the wellbeing of speakers and guests at risk. Earthwatch Europe, meanwhile, pulled the plug on family events to explore local wildlife in Hammersmith Park. The charity wrote on Facebook that it was “a twist nobody wanted, but everyone can appreciate the irony of.”

The festival had been expected to draw 75,000 people to more than 1,000 events over nine days. But heat-related health worries have led some to stay away. Like most cities, London holds far more heat than the countryside thanks to dense, heat-absorbing concrete and tarmac and a shortage of cooling greenery.

## Health Fears Keep People Away
Rupert Read, co-director of the Climate Majority Project, decided against travelling to London because he has a heart condition that heat can worsen. His organization shifted its events online. “It is unbelievable that it has come to this,” he says, adding that London Climate Action Week will press on “with a sense of very real jeopardy hanging over it, because that is the reality now. This is climate breakdown in action.”

The UK government has warned the heatwave will strain public health systems and heighten the risk of illness or even death. Last year, more than 1,500 heat-linked deaths were counted across the country, with the elderly the most vulnerable age group.

Charlotte Baker, who runs her own environment and public health consultancy and lives outside London, also called off plans to attend a conference on making cities more liveable this week. She has severe asthma triggered by pollen and air pollution, and three years ago a heat-driven asthma attack landed her in hospital. With forecasts of stagnant hot air that will trap pollution, she does not want a repeat. “I'm really gutted,” she says. “This is a really difficult decision for people with health conditions, and especially if you think you're going to miss out on potential networking or opportunities for work.”

## Transport Buckling in the Heat
Train operators have urged people to avoid all but essential travel and warned of disruption, since heat can leave overhead power lines sagging, steel rails buckling and signalling systems failing. By Tuesday morning, several London lines were already struggling with flooding from an overnight thunderstorm, itself a product of the same heat dome driving temperatures up.

Russ Avery, who runs his own communications business, remembers being stuck on a packed train with no working air conditioning during an earlier heatwave. An analysis by Bloomberg last year found the Tube's carriages can run up to 5 degrees Celsius hotter than the air outside. “It was genuinely really scary,” Avery says. Unwilling to repeat the experience, he decided to skip the week's flagship event, even though it offered a chance to win new clients and meet long-standing ones he rarely sees in person. “Everyone knows how horrible the Tube is when it's this kind of temperature, and that things can go wrong there,” he says.

## Even Drivers Can't Escape It
Those with their own cars aren't counting on the infrastructure to hold up either. Claire Bishop, founder of My Green Pension, had planned to drive two and a half hours from Bristol in South West England in her electric vehicle, hoping to drum up business. She had already paid for a booth at the main event along with a banner, leaflets and a parking space, but cancelled over fears of being stranded on a motorway in the heat and of road surfaces softening and turning sticky. With schools closing because of the heat, Bishop also has childcare to juggle. “It was all those unknowns for me that I just have to consider if that risk is worth taking,” she says.

A shortage of rapid charging hubs means Katie Glaze couldn't have driven her electric vehicle to London without stopping several times along the way. “You almost have to laugh,” she says. Glaze, sustainability director at infrastructure consultancy Brookbanks, withdrew from around nine sessions on adapting buildings for extreme climate because of the transport problems. Missing the event could mean a “loss of earnings” for her, with meetings already lined up with developers and a client. “The irony is that a lot of the conferences I was going to attend, the topic of discussion is what is happening now,” she says. “It's all very future-thinking, but we have the situation now that we're not addressing quickly enough.” She adds, “We've spent too long talking about climate change and action, but today's a perfect example of how we've failed. We haven't addressed climate change quick enough. The reality is here, and we are unprepared.”

## What this means for you
- **For travellers:** Anyone heading to the UK or Europe should make only essential journeys, as the heat is hitting trains, roads and power lines, and London's Tube can run up to 5C hotter than the air outside.
- **For your health:** The heatwave can be deadly for people with heart, asthma or respiratory conditions and for the elderly, last year alone more than 1,500 deaths in the UK were heat-linked.
- **The bigger lesson:** It shows urban infrastructure is not built for rising temperatures, a warning for every warming country, including India.

## Questions & Answers

### 1. How hot is the UK forecast to get on Wednesday?
The Met Office expects temperatures to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, which would break the June record.

### 2. What is a heat dome?
It is a zone of slow-moving high-pressure air that traps warm air like a lid on a pot, blocking clouds and rain and pushing temperatures steadily higher.

### 3. How many people were expected at London Climate Action Week?
The nine-day event was expected to draw around 75,000 people across more than 1,000 events.

### 4. Why are attendees staying away from the events?
Many cited health risks from the heat, especially those with heart and asthma conditions, along with transport and EV charging difficulties.

### 5. How many heat-linked deaths did the UK record last year?
More than 1,500 heat-linked deaths were counted across the country, with the elderly the most vulnerable group.

### 6. How is the heat affecting transport?
Heat can make power lines sag, rails buckle and signalling fail, so train operators have advised against all but essential travel.

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