{"id":597773,"date":"2026-05-22T09:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/597773\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:52:09","slug":"uk-weather-heat-health-alerts-come-into-force-as-temperatures-to-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/597773\/","title":{"rendered":"UK weather: Heat health alerts come into force as temperatures to soar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s what to know about UV as levels expected to be highpublished at 08:53 BST<\/p>\n<p>08:53 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Throughout the long weekend, the ultraviolet (UV) levels will be very high for many places. High UV corresponds to an index of 6 or 7 on a scale from 0 to 11+.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">During summer in the UK, that UV index would typically be around 5-6 with a maximum of 8 only in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Is UV dangerous?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Warm weather can often bring high levels of UV radiation, which is emitted by the Sun and penetrates the Earth&#8217;s atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">UV is not always dangerous. It can be beneficial because it enables our skin to produce essential vitamin D. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This is important for the function of bones, blood cells and our immune system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But every exposure can also increase the risk of skin cancer, which UV radiation can cause by damaging DNA in skin cells.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It also plays a substantial role in skin ageing, contributing to wrinkles and loosened folds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">What is the UV index?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Levels of UV radiation vary throughout the day. The highest readings occur in the four-hour period around &#8220;solar noon&#8221;, when the sun is at its highest &#8211; usually from late morning to early afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The higher the number, the greater the potential for damage to the skin and eyes &#8211; and the less time it takes for harm to occur.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Graphic showing the different levels of UV and when protection is required. Title: What are the different UV levels? 11+: Extremely high, extra protection required. 8-10: very high, extra protection required. 6-7: high, protection required. 3-5: medium, protection required. 1-2: low, no protection required. Source is the World Health Organization.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dcad95d1-2432-4f7a-a8a3-4415e5b01173.png.webp\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"1054\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s what to know about UV as levels expected to be highpublished at 08:53 BST 08:53 BST Throughout&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-597773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}