UK Heat Wave Causes Air Force Base to Close Due to Melting Tarmac

The UK's largest Royal Air Force base, RAF Brize Norton, stopped all incoming and outgoing flights because of extreme heat causing the runway to melt. The melting tarmac was confirmed in a tweet by the security and defense editor of SkyNews.

Melted Runway in the UK and Possible Threats on Tarmac

The so-called melting of the runway was announced by the security and defense editor of SkyNews, Deborah Haynes. Haynes tweeted that a military source informed her about the halted flights and the runway's "melted" status. She wrote that it happened due to the hot weather.

On the same thread, Haynes posted that a 2nd RAF source informed her the heat impacted the runway but did not tell her that it actually melted. Runways may be regarded as dangerous if the tarmac becomes sticky in the sun.

In another tweet from the Ministry of Defence Press Office, it quoted the statement on flights at RAF Brize Norton. According to the statement, the RAF's priority is flight safety during extreme temperatures, which makes aircraft use other airfields in line with a long-established plan.

The threat of melting tarmac is not exclusive to the British military. The London metropolitan area was also expecting it to happen as the temperature could climb above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the BBC report, road crews have been on standby in areas of England where surface temperatures reached as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, turning the tarmac into a tacky and dangerous mass of bubbling guck.

Although this is a record-breaking heatwave, the report points out that tarmac melting had occurred in the UK before when rock salt had to be sprinkled on the roads to unstick the road. However, the scenario has not happened again since 2006.

How Often Does Tarmac Melt?

According to National Highways, modified asphalt surfaces are used while building motorways and strategic routes. These surfaces are resilient past 140 degrees Fahrenheit or an equivalent air temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit and should not start melting.

However, most basic asphalt compounds used on local roadways can begin to soften at 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

The head of civil and environmental engineering at Brunel University, Prof. Xiangming Zhou, states that the road can get soft and greasy, making it difficult for cars to break. For this reason, councils have prepared gritting lorries, typically used in icy weather to cover roads in sand and dust.

He claims that while tarmac and asphalt are less expensive and damaging to tires than other materials, they tend to heat more quickly in hotter temperatures.

Only 4% of the roads in Britain are made of concrete, which is more commonly used abroad for highways and motorways and can be more resilient but is still susceptible to difficulties brought on by excessive temperatures. as evidenced by the shutdown of the A14.

The dual carriageway near Cambridge was constructed with asphalt over existing concrete slabs, but as a result of the heat, the slabs swelled and buckled, creating a bump that required an overnight closure for emergency repairs.

According to Asphalt Industry Alliance chair Rick Green, a road's ability to withstand all temperatures is challenging for design engineers. He said that although the surface doesn't melt at exceptionally high temperatures, the bitumen in it can soften can heighten the risk of deformation.

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