THESE startling satellite images show the effect of the recent heatwave on land around York.

Green fields around the city have become parched and brown, in a little more than two weeks.

The satellite images were taken on June 29 and July 14 by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel-2 observation satellites from 500 miles above the Earth, as part of its Copernicus mission.

John Murray, a researcher for the Geographic Data Science Lab at the University of Liverpool provided the images, which were captured by two satellites as part of a scheme to monitor vegetation, atmospheric conditions and other environmental issues in an effort to use artificial intelligence techniques to analyse the risk of disasters such as flooding around urban environments.

Mr Murray said his work primarily involved analysing data to help insurance companies assess risk for buildings insurance, and mainly involved studying areas for vegetation cover, types of buildings, and rivers while tracking changes to urban areas over time.

Rodger Hobson, managing director at Hobson Farming near Crockey Hill, said the situation is “more extreme” in the Vale of York because of the soil, which is sandier than in other areas.

He said: “It’s probably as arid as it gets. It’s absolutely shocking and the water’s running out. People are talking about it being like the summers of 1976 or 1995.

“It’s more extreme in the Vale of York because we have sandy soil which is very drought prone, as opposed to the soil up in the hills. That’s why the area around York is a nice place to farm.”

Earlier this month, the Environment Agency urged the public to “follow water company advice to use water wisely during these hotter summer months to help manage demand and reduce the impact on the environment”, as groundwater levels were beginning to decline.

However, the Met Office has announced a yellow weather warning for Friday, when it says scattered thunderstorms could hit York, North Yorkshire and Humberside, along with much of the north and east of the country between 2pm and 11.45pm, with some chance of flooding through heavy rain.

A spokesman said: “Whilst many places are likely to remain dry, there is the potential for thunderstorms to develop during Friday afternoon, lasting well into the evening. Where these occur expect torrential downpours with as much as 30mm of rainfall in one hour and 60mm in three hours. Large hail and strong, gusty winds will be additional hazards.”

Mr Hobson has warned the extreme weather could lead to a shortage of British-grown carrots.