After naming storms... Report suggests UK should name heatwaves

Heatwaves should be named in the UK to help communicate the threats that they can pose to the public.

That is the recommendation of a report compiled by academics from the University of Oxford submitted to the British Government.

The report, published by the Environment Audit Committee, focuses on how the UK government tackles heat waves and the risk they bring.

In particular, it notes that increasing heat poses a significant risk for health, wellbeing, and productivity.

Including an increased risk of illness, greater demand for cooling technologies which increases demand on the power grid, exacerbation of existing conditions, and an impact on UK housing which is not designed to handle high temperatures.

In order to alleviate these impacts, a number of suggestions were made. Including introducing a system for naming heatwaves for better communication, similar to how storms have been named since 2015.

The UK would not be the first country to begin naming heatwaves. Hurricane Zoe became the first ever named heatwave in 2022 after the city of Sevilla, Spain introduced a naming system.

Last year, Heatwave Cerberus stretched from June to September and stands out as the first widely named heatwave in history.

Here, the government has two months to respond to the suggestions made in the report.