London scorcher

wonder | wander | women will remember this summer forever. We have seen solar eclipses before, and Mom was lucky enough to see a total eclipse, but this was the first time I was able to see one where the sun was almost fully covered.

Watching the solar eclipse at Wanstead Flats

We cheered like kids and shared eclipse glasses as the moon moved slowly in front of the sun. We had heard about the eerie darkness and silence of a total eclipse but didn't expect anything from a partial besides what we could see through our glasses.

Eclipse at around 40 percent

Instead, as the sun changed from a fiery ball to a tiny sliver like a fingernail clipping, the light dimmed around us and the heat cooled from a sweltering 34 degrees Celsius to about 29. Everything went a little gray as we watched.

Eclipse at around 76 percent

As the light and heat returned we shared fruits and cold drinks with friends who were visiting from the States. They noted that the usually green and refreshing London parkland looked more like the dry, fire-prone brush of Los Angeles.

This summer London has had five heatwaves, with the temperature going up to 37 Celsius. We're used to one continuous hot month at the most, with summer usually coming in two-week increments of sun between spells of rain and thunderstorms. 

Cool, quiet shade in St. George's Gardens

This year has been alarming. According to the UK Meteorological Office (or the Met Office) we had the driest July on record. Several wildfires and dust storms swept across the barren parks, and the government issued an alert against campfires and park barbeques.

A dry and yellowed Greenwich Park 

Parks turned yellow and trees began to drop leaves in the heat. Fountains were turned off and water companies installed a hosepipe ban to control the waste of water.

Dry fountain at Greenwich Park

Canals and wetlands lost inches of water and various ancient sites were exposed by the dry weather as the water crisis continued through August.

Waterbird nesting area at Camley Street Natural Park

The solar eclipse was an unmissable experience. The UK won't see another one of that magnitude for at least 54 years. But the increasingly hot summers are another milestone, and an alarming one for a country accustomed to wet weather and green pastures. Climate change is here and moving from crisis into emergency. We hope the world takes action before a whole way of life is lost.

Regents Canal at Kings Cross