United Kingdom 2013 heatwave in Ireland and the United Kingdom

1 united kingdom

1.1 emergency services
1.2 economic
1.3 ecological

united kingdom

on 18 july, london school of hygiene , tropical medicine reported first 9 days of heat wave had caused additional 760 deaths in uk.

emergency services

the heat wave led rises in both number of calls emergency services , admissions a&e departments. large numbers of people using rivers, lakes , sea cool off led large increase in number of calls lifeguards. london fire brigade reported having deal double number of grass fires in capital compared previous year. wildfires reported in epping forest in essex, dorset coast, valleys of southern wales , tentsmuir forest in scotland.

economic

the heatwave had positive impacts on uk economy, retail sales 3.0% compared july 2012, producing best monthly set of figures since 2006. british retail consortium cited andy murray s success @ wimbledon, commencement of 2013 ashes series , birth of prince george of cambridge contributory factors increase. in particular, warm temperatures increased sales of diy , gardening equipment , barbecue-related items , foods, waitrose reporting , jump in sales of 116% barbecues, 450% in charcoal , 165% outdoor furniture in first week of heatwave. high volume of retail sales pushed value of pound.

more 120,000 people visited bournemouth beach. tourism figures showed rises in parts of wales, in caravan , camping parks , outdoor monuments, although self-catering operators , museums saw drop in numbers.

ecological

following declines in summer of 2012 due wet , windy conditions, butterfly numbers saw surge due prolonged warm weather. warmer waters around british coasts led increase in number of jellyfish sightings, particularly moon jellyfish.

the death of thousands of fish in rivers , lakes attributed elevated temperatures lowering amount of oxygen in water toxic levels.