Burnt Britain: Images taken from space show how heatwave has turned UK from green to brown in a month
Seen from space, the heatwave gripping Britain has turned the country a scorched sandy brown colour, a video from the the European Space Agency shows.
An image from June shows Ireland and the UK a deep green colour, but an image taken less than a month later shows a very different picture.
The first, taken on June 28, shows lush green vegetation - but by July 25 the toll the heat has taken is evident.
The newly released pictures, shown as an animation to hammer home the changes, were taken by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission.
The ESA said in a statement: “These two images cover the same area: part of Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, part of Germany and part of France, but the difference between them couldn’t be more striking.
"The first, captured on June 28 2018, is predominantly green, depicting healthy vegetation. The second, captured on July 25 2018, however, is mainly brown, showing just how much the vegetation has changed owing to the long hot dry spell Europe has been enduring over the last weeks."
Thursday became the hottest day of the year so far with the temperature at Heathrow reaching 35C, according to the Met Office, with forecasters saying temperatures could soar as high as 37C on Friday.
There is a chance the high temperatures could even beat the all-time UK record of 38.5C, with the hot weather set to continue into August.