About 50 schools affected by heatwave
Around 50 schools in Shropshire were closed or partially closed due to the heatwave.
The temperature is expected to rise up to 34 degrees in some parts of the district on Thursday.
The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) has issued a red weather warning for the whole of the West Midlands. Extended until 23:00 BST on Friday.
Dozens of schools in the Telford and Shropshire local authority areas were affected on Wednesday, but more announced plans to close or partially close on Thursday, with some sending children home early.
Holy Trinity Academy in Telford said it would close and switch to online learning on Wednesday and Thursday, while Meole Brace secondary school in Shrewsbury said it would do so on Thursday and Friday.
Holy Trinity said all students are expected to log in at 08:25 BST and follow their normal class schedule.
The highest temperatures are expected in the afternoon and it is stated that Church Stretton School will close at 13.00.
A number of other schools have announced similar measuresincluding Mary Webb School in Pontesbury and educational support units.
Railway transportation was also affected by the heat wave [BBC]
Around fifteen primary schools in the Shropshire Council area have also said they will close early, while others have given parents the option of collecting their children from 1pm.
Keystone Academy said it offers parents the choice of whether to send their children. Turnout on Wednesday was roughly 55%, he said, and a similar number was expected on Thursday.
Meadows Primary School in Oswestry said it had no air conditioning and as a result would close completely on June 25 due to extremely hot conditions.
Some schools in Telford announced they will close early Langley School said on Thursday that it asked Grade 8 and 9 students to stay at home if possible.
Transportation was also affected; West Midlands Railway is only advising essential travel on Wednesdays and Thursdays and is running a reduced service on its network until Friday.
The UKHSA said this was only the second time it had issued a red heat-health alert.
It said the heatwave could have an impact beyond health and social care, potentially affecting transport systems, food, water, energy supplies and businesses, posing a risk to life even for healthy populations.
West Midlands science, environment and rural affairs correspondent David Gregory-Kumar said that when he started his job he felt that heat waves like the current one were expected with climate change, but it was not possible to say for sure that these were caused by this.
But 25 years later, he said, “the science is very different” and “can we say that climate change is making this heat wave worse, scientists can say by how much.”
He said climate change has made “current weather” 2 to 4 degrees warmer than “what we saw in the last half of the 20th century,” according to Climameter, a consortium of weather researchers.
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