Millions of Brits are being told to prepare as a combination of thunderstorms and a high pollen count are set to combine and create the weather phenomenon “thunder fever” this week.
According to weather forecasters, the remnants of tropical storm Alex – which notably brought flooding to southern Florida earlier this month – will track across the Atlantic over the next few days and arrive on UK shores, bringing unseasonably strong winds of up to 55mph and thundery showers along with it.
The predicted wind and rain, together with warm temperatures and a high pollen count, has now prompted warnings for hay fever sufferers nationwide.
“Thunderstorms bring problems for hay fever sufferers,” said allergens expert Max Wiseberg.
“Very high pollen counts are predicted across many parts of England from Thursday onwards causing havoc for the millions of hay fever sufferers in the UK [and] predicted thunderstorms won’t give respite either, as instead they can cause a phenomenon known as ‘thunder fever’.”
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But what actually is ‘thunder fever’ then?
Have you been sneezing recently?
Very high pollen levels are expected across parts of England and Wales later in the week, as we near a peak in the grass pollen season 🤧 pic.twitter.com/XG3xcowmbE
Well, to put it simply, ‘thunder fever’ is just an extreme form of extreme hay fever.
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Hay fever – which is also known by the medical term allergic rhinitis – is triggered when our immune systems mistake airborne particles, such as pollen, for a harmful pathogen, and this usually causes a number of unpleasant symptoms for sufferers, including inflammation of the airways, constant sneezing, and watering eyes.
Giving more of an insight into the weather phenomenon, Mr Wiseberg continued: “According to a report in The European Respiratory review, humidity breaks pollen grains into smaller allergenic particles [and] these new pollen grains turn into a kind of ‘super pollen’.
“This appears to be more allergenic than normal pollen, causing more severe reactions in sufferers.
“Storms bring pollen grains down which might have otherwise risen above head height out of harm’s way and whipping up pollen grains and fungal spores near the ground.”
The Met Office is predicting that the former tropical storm will be heading far north west of the UK on Thursday and Friday, but deputy chief meteorologist Adam Thornhill admits that the details “are still being worked out”.
Winds could be around 45mph for most in the north of the UK, with a chance of some gusts in excess of 55mph in some exposed island and coastal areas.
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
8th June 2022 
