The relentless heat and lack of rainfall have emptied reservoirs and pushed most of the country into prolonged dry weather status - the first of four drought categories.
Cabinet Office Minister Kit Malthouse will chair a meeting of the Cobra civil contingencies committee on the heatwave, ahead of the amber alert which begins on Sunday.
Overall, there were ten weeks of heat that saw widespread drought, mass standpipe use, and even the pausing of the murder trial of the notorious Black Panther . Above: A standpipe queue in Devon.