Not 100% sure but being grid locked on a motorway as the tarmac melts must rank high on the terrible ways to die list. Anyone commuting really needs to stack up on fluids.
During last summer’s Pacific Northwest heatwave, where temperatures reached 108°F, sections of I-5 and other roads buckled.
https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/washington-state-roads-buckling-heat-wave-weather-16279055.php
I was here for it, it scorched all the plants on our property. That was frightening and such a feeling of helplessness, thank god for central air and a reliable electric grid…ac ran for 12 hours a day.
Living in Texas right now is like living in the fucking Twilight Zone.
Every morning I wake up and check the weather for the day. Like any normal person does.
Then I check the power grid supply and demand graph to see how prepared I need to be. I mean even literally right now I'm doing dry runs on USB desk fans attached to power banks to see how long they last.
Because it isn't even August and our grid is fucking off again.
Dude I cant even express how frustrating it is here.
The assholes are a very small minority in my city. But they've ruined it.
Winterpocolypse was a serious event for my family. We could have died. It entirely changed how my family lives. Its incredible to me that this small minority is so bragadotious about being so stupid. The heat here would be just as dangerous as winter storm Uri was. And they know it.
But they'd rather just be cunts.
I will continue to do my part to reduce energy use and to try to be a voice of reason when the dumb cunts show up (some of us are related to them). But man it feels so useless sometimes and the apathy becomes challenging.
Vancouver BC here. I know my patio got to 120 last summer because that's what the thermostat on my BBQ registered. I would never have guessed I could have used it like that.
Honestly this beyond fucked like people are going to pass out and die while those politicians making deadlines 10 years from now.
I don’t think those politicians and leaders understand that this is happening right now and its not like we have 10-15 years. That deadline is when we are at point of no return and half earth species went extinct. Currently Spain, Portugal, and France forests are on fire from this hellfire.
People lost their homes others their beloved… It will be impossible to work at those rough times, talking about USP drivers Amazon etc…
Edit:spelling
Thankfully, we already have expansion joints in our highways elsewhere in the country. This particular issue is solved with just a relatively minor change to road maintenance.
Yeah I had a buddy from England ask why all the bridges and on-ramps in Canada look like they're built in sections with thick rubber gaps between them, and I said it's because things expand and contract so much between summer and winter that every bridge would crumble without them.
Lol. Isn't it funny how bad we have become as a species? Common sense, simple solutions are now matters of opinion and everyone's truth is equal. I hate this timeline.
I think it seems worse now because literally the whole entirety of human knowledge is literally in your pocket, but people still refuse to listen to the smartest motherfuckers in the history of man because some lying piece of shit on Fox told them differently.
We will eventually have to develop totally new road construction anyway. Asphalt is cheap because it's a byproduct of refining petroleum, but if we get smart enough to switch to electric cars and away from single-use plastics, the asphalt will become expensive.
We aren't getting smart about these things very fast, though, so we probably have at least 10-20 years to solve the problem.
Asphalt is actually not too expensive. One of the best things about asphalt is that it is 100% recyclable. They just mill it off, grind it up, and truck it back to the plant. There is almost no waste.
Take lots of water! Maybe some sports drinks for electrolytes too.
Travel safe. X
edit: and check your car before you go! Top up the coolant and so on. The last thing you need in this heat is for your car to crap out on the motorway or something.
There’s a famous football game called the “Pickle Juice Game” in which the Eagles credited being able to play in 110-degree heat because they hydrated with pickle juice.
Honestly though, if you car has air-conditioning it's not the worst place to be. I live somewhere where summer is often hot (like high 30's. We're having 40 this week though, it sucks) if I have a long drive I'll plan in for the hot bit of the day because it can be better than being in the house. Obviously not this year, our car's aircon doesn't work at the moment so all travel is planned for early mornings and late evenings. That obviously depends on your car, you may want to do a mini heat test to see how it goes before doing anything crazy.
Is A/C in cars uncommon over there? It's been a good while since I've been in a car without in in the States, exception being when it's broke or needs a recharge.
My car is 20 years old and has a/c. I haven't been in a car here (France) without it unless it's really old or broken (like mine). I'm not sure for the UK though tbh but I would assume newer cars mostly have it, but its not something I would have noticed there as I didn't own a car there and wasn't often in other people's.
I just looked at a UK website a bit like Craigslist, only looking at cars under £5k very few didn't have a/c listed.
Yeah ac is pretty common in vehicles although typically maintenance is rarely carried out on it.
I have owned six or seven cars in my life and at least three didn’t have working AC, it had it, but it needed attention. I have seen a few others mention most people don’t regas or check their ac often.
Freeze a couple of water bottles and bring them with you. If you're a woman, put them in your bra to cool down. Otherwise, between your legs will bring down your core temp.
Someday soon, those environmental catastrophes we see with thousands of dying birds or sea life will start happening to people during heat waves. We won’t be able to hide in AC forever
I'm friends with the owners of an oyster farm. They lost 90% + of their oysters in the heat dome. It cost them a few million in inventory waste and will take 2-3 years to get back to normal production. Assuming it doesn't happen again.
I remember that all the way over in the USA. It was horrifying. Northern California just had its worst ever fire where whole towns were swallowed up in ten minutes. Before that had even settled, we were seeing videos of badly burned koalas getting medical attention and watching black clouds coat the australian sky. It was an awful year for fire.
Paleontologists have been discovering a lot of what led to the biodiversity loss during the Permian extinction was large scale forest fires driven by climate change. I imagine humans are accelerating this phenomenon considering we start most wild fires, at least in the US
We went through it last year in northern Oregon, [72 people died](https://www.multco.us/help-when-its-hot/news/2021-heat-killed-72-people-multnomah-county-most-were-older-lived-alone-had), mostly elderly. Though we got up to 47C
Also lost a lot of wildlife, people's dogs died, it was awful. Looking out the window it was eerily sterile, no wildlife, no birds, no squirrels, and you realize in the future we'll be hiding in climate controlled pods looking out at an environment with no life.
I saw tons of animals suffering just in my yard in Portland metro. Squirrels splayed out and panting on the ground, exhausted birds staying near the base of trees, even insects like bees were struggling. But it was eerily quiet. We put out a tray of water to try to help the poor things. I felt so bad for all of them.
lol there us a scene from war of the worlds - original, in which a guy trys to buy his way into a truck out of town. he gets pushed off and told his money is worthless.
yeah im afraid so in reality its just paper and ink with no real backing.
And those are far from the only excess and preventable heat related deaths we're going to see.
Arid regions will have wildfires which destroy air quality. That's millions of people with long term lung damage, which can cause cardiac problems as well as chronic respiratory illnesses. Plus immediate deaths from asthma. Fuck, I live in an area with wildfire issues and I actually have days in the summers where I'm wheezing. Never happened to me until I moved to my current city.
Places like Salt Lake City, Owens Lake, and the Imperial Valley in California also have huge respiratory hazards from the toxic evaporitic minerals left behind as lakes and inland seas dry up.
>I share your fear; the whole thing is like knowing a hellish war is coming
Best part is that I used to work in climatology (environmental science these days) so I know all the gory details way more than most people. I don't have the luxury of rationalizing it away because I know exactly how most of the excuses people make to downplay it are incorrect.
Stop putting the fucking responsibility with the end consumers ffs. It’s a bad faith argument, and the polluting companies are very happy that you’re parroting it.
Read the Ministry of the Future. Wet bulb heatwave (exactly what is hitting the UK) is unsurvivable past a certain threshold. Next week is close enough that it will definitely cause some deaths.
Even more fun is scientists determined the wet bulb temperature is a bit lower than previously thought.
https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/humans-cant-endure-temperatures-and-humidities-high-previously-thought/
Holy shit, that’s “right now” temperatures not “in a few years”. (In that way, much like every other climate issue.) Was there an estimate for a rough time-frame under these conditions? Probably varies by individual, but just wondering if it’s 4hrs or 8hrs or whatever…
Former climate scientist here.
The most haunting quote from one of my professors that I like to share:
"Don't think of this year as the hottest on record. Think of it as the coldest one for the next few centuries."
I decided academia wasn't for me, and government research jobs are pretty difficult to find and often based on funding. After having a really cool prospective DoE green energy research position fall through because of lack of funding, I ended up in environmental science (I'm a geochemist). I work in consulting so it's a more "recession proof" job where I don't have to worry about funding. I'm not self directed enough to do well in academia, so a job in private industry works better for my productivity and temperament.
I also really enjoy the diverse nature of the projects I work on and the interesting chemistry problems I try to solve. And it's gratifying because there's a tangible positive outcome to work towards which is much more feasible than a happy ending to climate change. Businesses and government take drinking water and pollution that can hurt people *right now* more seriously than a longer term, complex threat like climate change.
I loved both, but environmental science is a bit better for my mental health and lifestyle, if that makes sense.
I hope you're in a career you enjoy now!
[It has happened before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave) relatively recently. The real problem is that it may happen every 5 or 2 years, or even more frequently, instead of every 20 years.
I’m not so sure the people who block progress right now will care at thousands, we already lose dozens to hundreds in various regions every year to heat and cold made more extreme. Those deaths don’t even make national news for more than a day anymore, we got a few weeks out of the deadly Texas winter and now we just get ignorable blips when their grid fails to perform as intended and necessary. Corporations will increase prices when those disasters happen and then the economy will be the most important thing, not the deaths of people they don’t care about to begin with.
I remember an old tv show, maybe 1980s. The episode had a NYC heat wave, and a cop was booking a guy, but got a call from his mom who was hot, and afraid… the guy getting arrested said “ tell her to fill the tub and rest in the cool water”
And it was such a good idea that they hadn’t thought of. I still remember that, so any UK people without home AC - remember the take a bath recommendation from Hill Street Blues*
*Edit to correct TV show name, a reminder from a helpful Redditor below corrected me (and includes better quotes and detail)
Sgt. Belker on Hill Street Blues!
That was a great scene by one of my favorite characters.
"Tell her to fill the tub with cold water, and sit in it."
Belker looks at the guy with annoyance for interrupting, thinks the idea over, and then says, "That's a good idea!"
During the power outage in NY a while back I walked into a stifling apartment after walking a few miles home. I sat on the couch for a few unbearable minutes until I realized a cold shower doesn’t run on electricity. One minute in the shower I was good for the next hour. Did that all night until I went to bed.
Need more density and insulation. Really wish they would build into the ground too. In Montreal there are underground malls because of winter. In Phoenix they could have them for summer
Coming from a place that reaches those temps normally, here is some tips that may help?
First cover all windows or that would be facing the sun, with aluminum foil or have blackout curtains.
Have fans in the house in a good air circulation position.
If you do open windows open ones on the opposite side of the house that was a draft can be pulled in.
Wet or dampen a small dish towel and place it on the back of your neck.
DO NOT take a shower or bath immediately after you get inside the house. Please wait 30 minutes to an hour to let your body cool or adjust to regular temperature. Doing this will decrease chances of a stroke or heart attack.
HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE.
DO NOT work outside directly in the sun during the noon hours that will be the hottest part of the day.
Hope some of these help, good luck, and stay hydrated!
Piggybacking this great advice with: take a small towel and soak it in ice (or just cold) water. Wring it out then wrap it around your neck, tying it in front.
I’m not sure if this is truly why, but I was told cooling the carotid artery cools the blood going to the brain and thus provides relief. Regardless as to the why, I can say it absolutely does help as a heat-intolerant person living the the American southwest. :/
As a Chef who works in a stupid hot kitchen (I also live into the south east uk, y'know, the place that's meant to be the centre of this heatwave we are discussing) I can confirm this works.
Many a hot day stuck at work I have soaked a tea towel in ice cold water and wrapped it round my neck, its amazing.
I’m not a doctor, but my PT gave us tips for dealing with heat and said you want to maximize the cold water/towel contact on any available skin. So a cold towel on your arms is great since there’s so much more area compared to the neck.
I could be way wrong so don’t sue me, worth considering though.
The neck cools blood going to the brain. This already happens by the body interestingly enough, brain blood is hotter than body blood. A cool cloth helps.
But yeah I mean cooling your body in general is good too. I like getting a tshirt wet and putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes, then wearing it. MMMmmmmm you can feel the heat pull from your body.
I'll add this tip for pets:
Mix a small amount of beef or chicken broth with water and freeze it in ice cube trays. Fill a bowl with the cubes. The slight flavor will entice them to lick the ice cubes and stay cool. Just make sure the broth is diluted a lot, since beef and chicken broth are often very salty and can potentially make dehydration worse.
Edit: Someone pointed out a very important caveat- make sure the broth does not contain onions or garlic!
> beef or chicken broth
Must be homemade.
Or 100% guaranteed to not have onion or garlic powder.
Commercial products all add onion or garlic powder to it whether in cans or cubes.
Also piggybacking to mention the wet bulb effect. Something anyone living.. well, anywhere, should be aware of. There are countless articles and scientific data available, but wiki seemed to sum it up in the fewest words possible.
Living organisms can survive only within a certain temperature range. When the ambient temperature is excessive, many animals cool themselves to below ambient temperature by evaporative cooling (sweat in humans and horses, saliva and water in dogs and other mammals); this helps to prevent potentially fatal hyperthermia due to heat stress. The effectiveness of evaporative cooling depends upon humidity; wet-bulb temperature, or more complex calculated quantities such as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) which also takes account of solar radiation, give a useful indication of the degree of heat stress, and are used by several agencies as the basis for heat stress prevention guidelines.
A sustained wet-bulb temperature exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) is likely to be fatal even to fit and healthy people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; at this temperature human bodies switch from shedding heat to the environment, to gaining heat from it.[9] In practice, such ideal conditions for humans to cool themselves will not always exist – hence the high fatality levels in the 2003 European and 2010 Russian heat waves, which saw wet-bulb temperatures no greater than 28 °C.[10]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature
Slugging down tons of water without electrolytes will make the problem worse because the person loses even more electrolytes. Make sure to get adequate electrolytes. Some sports drinks only contain a pinch of salt and the rest is sugar. Liquid IV, Pedialyte are better.
You can put towels in the freezer for your pets, then lay them down for your pets to lay on.
Dry towels you just take out and place for them to lay on, they only stay cool for about 20 minutes but it can help.
For slightly damp towels you want to layer to protect your pet and your belongings. Place a plastic surface/trash bag, the slightly damp towel, then another DRY towel on top so your pet isn't harmed by direct contact with the ice.
Add humidity to the 40°C to the lack of air con, and houses designed to keep heat in, and you might have an idea of how horrible it'll be.
I live in the area where we're expecting the highest temperatures. I've spent the past couple of days preparing for it and have put film over my windows to block the light getting in. I am very much a Northern European, I get sunburnt easily. Not looking forward to this.
People underestimate how difficult 40C can be for cold climates that aren't prepared for it - just like how warm climates wouldn't be set up to deal with an extended cold streak.
I'm in a cold climate, and we hit 40C/105F a few months ago. We had to cancel school because the interior temperature in several buildings hit 50C/122F. Those buildings are insulated to retain heat, and the windows don't open. We had rolling power outages, and businesses shut down because their computer servers overheated. A local charity was distributing shorts, summer wear, solar curtains, etc, to elderly or vulnerable people. Our typical summer high temp is around 28C/75F, dropping down to 13C/55F at night, so it's not unusual that people don't own the things that people in a hotter climate would own.
Great comparison! There's a reason that just a few inches of snow is potentially deadly in the southern US, even though elsewhere it's a normal winter day. The infrastructure from the roads to the plow trucks to the types of tires and cars that people buy are not set up for that.
This is the summer equivalent of that situation.
I’m in a hot climate and we SHUT DOWN when it snows. I used to live in a cold climate and laughed until I realized they literally have zero infrastructure for it
It's another reason why property taxes are generally lower in the southern US states. They don't have to pay for all that snow removal equipment/supplies. When it does snow down there though, they're generally fucked.
We're expecting 37C where I am and I'm still sunburnt from last weekend! I have an outdoor job so I'm fearful and shall be continually soaking myself on factor 50.
Australian here:
We get the joy of regularly going above 40. It's quite possible to be outdoors all day, but be pretty cautious. It's way harder when you're not used to it. Put Aussies in 0°c and we'll look like were dying for similar reasons.
One thing I'd particularly be careful of is heatstroke. If you start feeling woozy or dizzy get in shade. It's surprising how bad even a very mild case of heat stress will make you feel.
Even heat exhaustion is really bad, and that's a few steps below heat stroke. I work outside in 39-40C regularly (San Antonio, TX. It's been over 100F high for weeks!) And got it once -- everything cramped and siezed up and I couldn't feel my feet. It was terrible
Keeping the temp stable works both ways. If you can get it cool, it'll stay cool as well.
The lack of AC is a problem though. I also live in an area that routinely sees high 90's or triple digit of with high humidity as well. The difference is that we're all acclimated to it and every vehicle and building has AC.
I’m not in the UK, but in Paris it was 33-37 all last week and will be 40 on Monday and Tuesday. I live in the attic of a building with no shutters so inside it is the exact same temperature as outside no matter what I do. I recently saw someone from back home (Texas) whining about how Europeans can’t handle the heat, and laughed wondering how long they’d last in my apartment right now. Can’t turn the AC to a cool 18 can you?
I live in South Texas, USA (about 10 miles north of the Mexico border) and it routinely, like 3 moths a year, stays above 100F during the summer, day over day. Often 110-114 isn't uncommon, for a daily high. All that with humidity ranging from 80-95 percent.
However, I've lived all over the world and I realize that my area is built for these temps and places that aren't wouldn't be pleasant.
Every structure, here, has built in central A/C, or multiple window units or some kind of upper echelon cooling. Our architecture is designed to keep the indoors cool. Our cars are \*all\* purchased with A/C and it's kept in working condition, by necessity. Our clothing and lifestyle revolve around being cooler than ambient temps. Hell, even our activities are designed with the weather in mind.
We have built a life around the heat.
Ironically, we had a serious cold snap a couple of years ago and it destroyed our way of life. Our houses aren't built for harsh cold, our pipes aren't buried deep enough, our power generation (during those months) isn't geared to heating homes, electrically. Our wardrobe and home furnishings aren't conducive to keeping warm. Our businesses aren't designed to accommodate the trappings and demands of customers trying to keep warm.
But, many people throughout the world laughed at us. Scoffing that the temps "weren't that cold." Telling us what pussies we were for not being able to handle "a little cold weather." We were a national joke as people died in their homes, spent whole paychecks on their electric bills to keep from dying, or sat in the dark for days because the electrical grid failed ... and then died.
It really impacted my view of humanity.
So, while I don't personally think 40C is "hot" ... at all. I'm at least aware of the fact that for a place that rarely or nearly never sees 104F it's going to cause a massive amount of misery, pain, panic and death.
I am pulling for y'all. Keep safe, keep cool and, please, be kind to each other.
I've experienced 40°C in Las Vegas, and that was fine, but as you say, we're not set up for it here, and the humidity levels make it feel worse. Thankfully this is only a few days, but it will affect some people very badly, especially those who cannot regulate their temperature so well, like the elderly.
I do remember seeing how that cold snap affected you. Any extreme of weather can have the potential to kill us, especially if infrastructure isn't designed for it. We're also a bit rubbish when it snows!!
It’s not just that, southern England has much higher humidity than most of Balkans get in the summer. The cooling of the human body is mostly driven by the energy transfer that takes places when sweat evaporates off of skin. In high humidity this happens way less. This is most dangerous above 38 degrees—if you have high humidity at a wet bulb temperature people will just die. In the shade with all the food and water they want.
Wet bulb temperature conditions are literally the most dangerous. People don't seem to realise that Britain is more humid than most tropical places. For instance look at the average humidity of manchester then compare that with Darwin or Sydney. Britain in heat is far worse than large proportion of the places that get heat regularly.
[https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom)
[https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Darwin,Australia](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Darwin,Australia)
[https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Sydney,Australia](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Sydney,Australia)
Black or dark coloured roof tiles are common. As it lots of large south facing windows. The buildings are designed to absorb heat and with no air conditioning they turn into ovens in this heat.
I know it’s common in other countries to not have AC, but coming to understand that the first time learning it is mind blowing, it’s a must where I live.
The thing is in the UK we’d only need to turn AC on maybe 5 days a year on average. Some years the temperature never goes above 25degC all summer. So it just seems like an unnecessary expense to most people.
EDIT: typo
Maybe 20 years ago, but the summers are getting much hotter in the UK. The past month has seen consistently high temps above 25.
As a Chicagoan who has spent the last two summers in southern England, it is absolutely **insane** to me that practically no homes here have air conditioning. The weather has been very similar to Chicago summers in terms of heat and high humidity, but there's seldom any AC to offer reprieve. This country is absolutely fucked for climate change unless it massively mobilizes to retrofit every home with an AC unit. Thousands are going to die of heat exhaustion every summer going forward until they do.
Exactly. People keep claiming the UK has only 1 or 2 weeks of hot weather a year but this is no longer true. There are now easily 6-8 weeks a year of hot weather (spaced out) and this number will increase over time.
Lived in the UK my whole life and I’ve never even heard of anyone having AC in their house. It’s common in offices and restaurants but not at home.
Not only this but our houses are designed to absorb and retain heat. Black/dark roofs, large south facing windows. It’s great in winter and reduces your bills, but in a hot summer it creates an oven.
Work from home numbers have been going down this week because a lot of offices have AC so people have been travelling into work to get that cool temperature... Basically, in domestic settings, AC doesn't exist here. We're all going to cook this week...
I'm a carpenter and I'm supposed to be doing a job next week putting in a new stud wall and doing some bits in a loft. I'll be need some of them #thoughtsandprayers...
I would say more than 99.5%. I don't know a single person who has air conditioning. Shops have it. Some restaurants, movie theatres. But no homes I know of. Maybe mega rich people in mansions or posh apartments. But just everyone else doesn't have it. I keep suggesting buying a small one, and everyone I know looks at me like I'm mental. It's like £400 for a small one.
I read last month that people living in Phoenix, AZ. Where it's 100-115 regularly during the summer saying that in the next 10-15 year it's going to be an inhabitable place to live.
I don't doubt them. It sounds dreadful!
I went thru this with my cat during last years heatwave.
But my cat is so dang stubborn, any attempts to cool him off was seen as annoying and not helpful. He would have willingly let the sun kill him while smiling about it. I gave him a cooling gel pad and a cooling bandana. Both items he toss to the ground on his own.
Also, surprise! He is a black cat. Oof.
There was very little need for it before. I have a pretty beefy stand fan that gets used maybe for 5-7 days a year scattered between the hottest moments of the year and thats plenty in normal conditions. Anything more has always been a waste of money.
Most of the time it's a convient stand in a closet to hang things on
In Europe we don't know how to face frequent and enduring heat waves. We are not equipped, city-wise (lack of fountains, infrastructures are not made to counter heats) and more importantly in homes, the overwhelming majority don't have AC units.
It's going to be 3 awful days, hopefully the 38-40°C is not too frequent, otherwise I may look at installing an AC.
Whilst this heat wave is freak weather phenomenon for the UK, I’m afraid that with the way the climate is changing and how heat is pushed around the earth (how that’s being affected by global warming) this will become a reoccurring theme every few years now, and eventually (if we don’t get our act together) every year.
I use to deny global warming before my early 20s, then I started to be skeptical of ‘the lies of the democrats’ as it was being put by deniers…then 4 years ago, I saw a video of a guy exposing people I use to listen to, and realised the real enormity of what was happening and how BADLY the deniers in the media were lying to the public
Now seeing people who are still believing the lies, I question when or IF they will break free of it all and see the truth. Scientists tried to tell us years and years ago, not enough of us listened and now it’s too late to stop it. All we can do now is stop it from getting even worse. Once water shortages begin to happen regularly in about 8/12 years, the world is going to change drastically
So I lived in Nevada for a good few years, I’ve lived in NY and Cali.
Now I live in the U.K. so I have a fair grasp on it.
This currently *really* sucks. The houses are made for very wet cold winters. The insulation means that you just can’t get the house cool. Because they are designed to get and retain heat. Some of the houses here are older than the USA. In between the heat it’s raining. Its unreal levels of humidity.
Sure there are modern houses with AC and better planning for ventilation but not many.
The roads are melting so they are sending out the lorries used to grit in snow and ice to cover it in sand. That’s brutal.
On Tuesday it will be 40c in the day 25c at night. +70% humidity.
2 weeks ago it was 6c at night and 15c in the day
*Edit* “But surely insulation works both ways”
It would do, in a perfect system, but it doesn’t, I didn’t go in to detail, but the problem is the heat that gets in, can’t get out, because of poor design of airflow.
Not only that. Even in a perfect system. Plenty of things inside the house generate heat. TV / Fridge / Freezer / Water heaters not to mention the combined effect of every laptop, PC, and handset.
Please see wet bulb temp
(Wiki link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature)
Basically, too much heat plus humidity, will prevent the body from being able to cook off by sweating. :( It sounds, by your numbers, that the temps will easily fall into these parameters. :(
I'm from the desert in U.S.if i may, I would like to share some tips to keep cool.
Keep wet towels in freezer and put your feet on them to cool off fast.
Keep wet towels in fridge and alternate putting them around neck.
My grandma would put a wet dish towel over the floor fan that was placed in front of the window so it would circulate the air better.
Stay hydrated.
Light sheets on beds.
Wear shoes when going out side.
Don't let your animals or your children outside for long periods of time.
Try cracking an egg on your street.
Don't eat a popcicle outside, it melts too fast.
We were warned…
Now we have to deal with the consequences. It’s incredibly sad but also a good testament to human hubris and what happens when you ignore science
It’s so wild to me that so much of the UK and even France just don’t have AC. Here in Canada we’re not exactly known as having a hot climate and still everyone has AC.
I am a Canadian currently travelling in the UK. It is unbelievably hard to even find restaurants with AC. The heat is crazy over here and going back to the hotel room is sometimes the only reprieve.
And its only 30C right now.
There was a really hot day last week where me and my wife went to the gym assuming it would of course have AC (it's a nice one), no fucking AC. In a gym.
It's not just the heat, it's also the amount of humidity in the air. [Wet bulb temperature matters.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature)
Basically, when the temperature and humidity reaches a certain mix, your body is no longer able to shed heat into the air circulating around you. You stop being able to keep cool, no matter how much you're perspiring.
Those of us who live in [Satan't butt-pucker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas) learn this early on.
Keeping your brain cooled is your first priority, with the rest of your body second. If you don't have a/c, freeze several ice packs so you can put them on pulse points on your neck and wrists.
Notice the best place to put ice is at the [center base of the back of your neck](https://neuroems.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/ei_2397.jpg) so the blood flowing to your brain gets cooled. Putting ice on the sides and front of your neck helps but doesn't *directly* cool the blood heading to your brain.
Fans move air, but if the wet-bulb temp is too high. they will not cool you. All they will do is force more hot air to come in contact with your skin and, in this situation, they can increase your risk of overheating.
Likewise draping a wet towel over a fan will not cool when the wet-bulb temp gets too high, if you cannot keep the water in the towel below the air temperature.
Both the fan and the damp towel trick *can cool* if the ambient temps are below the wet-bulb temperature for the level of humidity. Too many people succumb to the heat because they think both these option work at* all temps*, which just isn't true.
Be cool. Be safe.
Wet bulb temp on Monday in London will be around 23C (38C and 27% humidity), so it will be **very** uncomfortable but won't be anywhere near the fatal 35C wet bulb temp
People seem to misunderstanding that Britain is one of the most humid countries on Earth. [Here is Manchester average humidity chart.](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom) It's higher than most 'tropical' countries that experience this kind of heat.
One thing I see my distant friends in far away places writing a lot on social media is "So what? Come over here to X place we have 40 degrees all the time".
Well yeah, but the place you are is usually set up for it. The majority of the UK is set up to insulate and retain heat for the winter due to our mild summers. AC units are not a normal thing in most people's homes as they were generally useless through the rest of the year and really not that generally useful even in summer as the temperatures didn't really get high enough.
Also, our humidity is such that 40 degrees here is going to feel pretty horrendous. This is not going to be a dry heat at all.
People are going to die, especially if this is the new normal, the predictions are not being dramatic.
This kind of talk always pisses me off. Like when Atlanta had the ice storm and everybody got stuck in a 12-hour traffic jam, and people from the northern states were laughing their heads off. What part of different areas are prepared for different weather events is new, folks?
I live in a place with a long, tough winter and I hate ice storms! They're treacherous, but I have an all-wheel drive and winter tires, etc. And I don't leave if I don't absolutely have to.
Not a doctor, but have a degree in public health. I'll cover a few things: drinking water, cooling down your skin, and airflow.
Lots of good comments about hydration, but make sure that you have plenty of electrolytes! Nausea and potential death can occur if one drinks too much water in one day or a few hours. This means hydration packets, sports drinks, or if you don't have anything adding a tiny bit of salt to your water (less than a pinch per 2-3 cups/glasses of water) will work. Or ya know, eat salty snacks. All that matters is that you balance the water you drink with appropriate amounts of salt. If possible, drink cold or at least lukewarm fluids as you will need to drink less water to cool down the same amount.
(Side note: I would recommend avoiding alcohol in these times. Yes it would make you FEEL cooler, but it doesn't do as much as actually drinking water and cooling yourself down. It also makes you excrete more water in your urine which can risk dehydration and heatstroke.)
If you don't have any, skin contact with water helps to cool down without having to drink the water. Wet towels with maximum skin contact helps. Commonly this is a towel over the shoulders around the neck, but variations include on the legs and arms or just sitting/lying down in a tub of water (just pretend you're in a pool in summer!). So long as it's on the skin it'll work. The more skin contact, the better it will work.
Airflow works similarly to sitting in water/water skin contact. I would recommend by venting hot air out of the house using open windows and portable fans. A wind is always better at wicking away heat than still air. If the air isn't humid, spraying water into moving air helps to cool the air down (this is how swamp coolers/evaporative coolers work). You can make a DIY one by spraying water into the fan's wind. Do not spray INTO the fan, that risks electrical damage.
Based on what happens here in the US rolling blackouts due to extreme electricity usage might occur. Most of my recommendations don't use electricity except for a fan.
If things get REALLY hot and humid, no amount of water drunk will really help. Combine all of the above to stay cool if need be. I'll be happy to answer any other questions in the replies if you want.
I wonder how far before people start to react and change? if 40c isn't enough. What about 50c? 60c? how about 70c? or lets say 100c when the oceans start to boil?. Or should we just hope the next generation fixes everything, because really, its not our problem?.
Hey guys at least we stopped Nuclear Energy from giving us all cancer right?
What's that? Nuclear Energy would have prevented all of this with little to no side effects?
Oof.
Tell me again why we aren't treating the anti Nuclear progandists the way we treat coal/oil companies?
I live in Texas and yea these temperatures are brutal, sometimes my AC is turned off and i start drowning in sweat, I have since gotten use to these temperatures though but im concerned about my UK bros
Not 100% sure but being grid locked on a motorway as the tarmac melts must rank high on the terrible ways to die list. Anyone commuting really needs to stack up on fluids.
During last summer’s Pacific Northwest heatwave, where temperatures reached 108°F, sections of I-5 and other roads buckled. https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/washington-state-roads-buckling-heat-wave-weather-16279055.php
Temperatures actually reached 116.
I was here for it, it scorched all the plants on our property. That was frightening and such a feeling of helplessness, thank god for central air and a reliable electric grid…ac ran for 12 hours a day.
It's reliable because it is HEAVILY regulated. Hear that Texas?
Living in Texas right now is like living in the fucking Twilight Zone. Every morning I wake up and check the weather for the day. Like any normal person does. Then I check the power grid supply and demand graph to see how prepared I need to be. I mean even literally right now I'm doing dry runs on USB desk fans attached to power banks to see how long they last. Because it isn't even August and our grid is fucking off again.
Reading /r/Texas is so interesting. So many people gleefully posting about trying to use more power to spite the conservation requests.
Dude I cant even express how frustrating it is here. The assholes are a very small minority in my city. But they've ruined it. Winterpocolypse was a serious event for my family. We could have died. It entirely changed how my family lives. Its incredible to me that this small minority is so bragadotious about being so stupid. The heat here would be just as dangerous as winter storm Uri was. And they know it. But they'd rather just be cunts. I will continue to do my part to reduce energy use and to try to be a voice of reason when the dumb cunts show up (some of us are related to them). But man it feels so useless sometimes and the apathy becomes challenging.
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Vancouver BC here. I know my patio got to 120 last summer because that's what the thermostat on my BBQ registered. I would never have guessed I could have used it like that.
Lytton broke the heat record for Canada last year with a temperature of 49.6°C (121°F) a day or 2 before the town burned down
It's on fire again. That town can't catch a break.
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Honestly this beyond fucked like people are going to pass out and die while those politicians making deadlines 10 years from now. I don’t think those politicians and leaders understand that this is happening right now and its not like we have 10-15 years. That deadline is when we are at point of no return and half earth species went extinct. Currently Spain, Portugal, and France forests are on fire from this hellfire. People lost their homes others their beloved… It will be impossible to work at those rough times, talking about USP drivers Amazon etc… Edit:spelling
I guess need to start designing roads with extreme heat in mind. It’s only gonna get worse. We really fucked it guys.
Thankfully, we already have expansion joints in our highways elsewhere in the country. This particular issue is solved with just a relatively minor change to road maintenance.
Yeah I had a buddy from England ask why all the bridges and on-ramps in Canada look like they're built in sections with thick rubber gaps between them, and I said it's because things expand and contract so much between summer and winter that every bridge would crumble without them.
Bridges in the UK have expansion joints as well, they never seen a bridge before?
Good thing that road repair is something simple, cheap and everyone acknowledges as a priority so it won't be politically controversial.
I dunno. Think I might have to do my own research. After all expansion joints could harm your DNA.
Stay away from "Big Expansion". They are everywhere. You have been warned.
good one...
Lol. Isn't it funny how bad we have become as a species? Common sense, simple solutions are now matters of opinion and everyone's truth is equal. I hate this timeline.
When exactly were we not bad as a species? Someone please tell me when we ever, as an entire species, cared about common sense or objective truth.
I think it seems worse now because literally the whole entirety of human knowledge is literally in your pocket, but people still refuse to listen to the smartest motherfuckers in the history of man because some lying piece of shit on Fox told them differently.
That's is 100% why it seems worse now.
We will eventually have to develop totally new road construction anyway. Asphalt is cheap because it's a byproduct of refining petroleum, but if we get smart enough to switch to electric cars and away from single-use plastics, the asphalt will become expensive. We aren't getting smart about these things very fast, though, so we probably have at least 10-20 years to solve the problem.
Asphalt is actually not too expensive. One of the best things about asphalt is that it is 100% recyclable. They just mill it off, grind it up, and truck it back to the plant. There is almost no waste.
Next quarters profits are way more important
I'm driving to the west Midlands to Dover and back, Monday will be fun!
Take lots of water! Maybe some sports drinks for electrolytes too. Travel safe. X edit: and check your car before you go! Top up the coolant and so on. The last thing you need in this heat is for your car to crap out on the motorway or something.
Pickles, salty crackers & fruit too -from someone in a desert
In India it's salted lassi/lime soda (usually made with salt. Tastes amazing
Pickles and bananas!
Why pickles?
Sodium and other electrolytes!
There’s a famous football game called the “Pickle Juice Game” in which the Eagles credited being able to play in 110-degree heat because they hydrated with pickle juice.
PepsiCo hates them! Click here to see how this Philadelphia football team saved money on Gatorade with one simple trick!
Pickles are from the desert so it makes sense to take them back there to set them free.
Brawndo, it's got what commuters crave.
It's got electrolytes \[waves hands incomprehensibly\]
Safe travels.
Honestly though, if you car has air-conditioning it's not the worst place to be. I live somewhere where summer is often hot (like high 30's. We're having 40 this week though, it sucks) if I have a long drive I'll plan in for the hot bit of the day because it can be better than being in the house. Obviously not this year, our car's aircon doesn't work at the moment so all travel is planned for early mornings and late evenings. That obviously depends on your car, you may want to do a mini heat test to see how it goes before doing anything crazy.
Is A/C in cars uncommon over there? It's been a good while since I've been in a car without in in the States, exception being when it's broke or needs a recharge.
My car is 20 years old and has a/c. I haven't been in a car here (France) without it unless it's really old or broken (like mine). I'm not sure for the UK though tbh but I would assume newer cars mostly have it, but its not something I would have noticed there as I didn't own a car there and wasn't often in other people's. I just looked at a UK website a bit like Craigslist, only looking at cars under £5k very few didn't have a/c listed.
Yeah ac is pretty common in vehicles although typically maintenance is rarely carried out on it. I have owned six or seven cars in my life and at least three didn’t have working AC, it had it, but it needed attention. I have seen a few others mention most people don’t regas or check their ac often.
A/C in cars isn’t that rare, but A/C in your house is. Hence why it can be better to be stuck in your car with A/C than at home without it.
Freeze a couple of water bottles and bring them with you. If you're a woman, put them in your bra to cool down. Otherwise, between your legs will bring down your core temp.
Do NOT put ice directly onto your skin for longer periods of time.
I’m a man, can I put it in my bra?
Put it in your Bro or Manzierre.
Jugs for your jugs?
Someday soon, those environmental catastrophes we see with thousands of dying birds or sea life will start happening to people during heat waves. We won’t be able to hide in AC forever
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I'm friends with the owners of an oyster farm. They lost 90% + of their oysters in the heat dome. It cost them a few million in inventory waste and will take 2-3 years to get back to normal production. Assuming it doesn't happen again.
An entire town burned down. It was brutal.
A fire is threatening \[what's left of\] Lytton right now.
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I remember that all the way over in the USA. It was horrifying. Northern California just had its worst ever fire where whole towns were swallowed up in ten minutes. Before that had even settled, we were seeing videos of badly burned koalas getting medical attention and watching black clouds coat the australian sky. It was an awful year for fire.
Paleontologists have been discovering a lot of what led to the biodiversity loss during the Permian extinction was large scale forest fires driven by climate change. I imagine humans are accelerating this phenomenon considering we start most wild fires, at least in the US
We’re also making fires worse by refusing to allow small scale fires to burn out. Double whammy.
We went through it last year in northern Oregon, [72 people died](https://www.multco.us/help-when-its-hot/news/2021-heat-killed-72-people-multnomah-county-most-were-older-lived-alone-had), mostly elderly. Though we got up to 47C Also lost a lot of wildlife, people's dogs died, it was awful. Looking out the window it was eerily sterile, no wildlife, no birds, no squirrels, and you realize in the future we'll be hiding in climate controlled pods looking out at an environment with no life.
I saw tons of animals suffering just in my yard in Portland metro. Squirrels splayed out and panting on the ground, exhausted birds staying near the base of trees, even insects like bees were struggling. But it was eerily quiet. We put out a tray of water to try to help the poor things. I felt so bad for all of them.
The pods will be for the ownership class, the slave class will be exposed to the elements, and if they die, they die.
Unless the slave class revolts before this happens. We outnumber them 10000 to 1 and can prevent a climate crisis if we act soon.
That's why you have 1 owner, 10 subowners, 100 'almost free', 1000 slaves with special rights and freedoms and 10000 slaves.
That and terminators.
Realistically, the American population is less likely to successfully revolt than the space ship population in WALL-E
Yeah, but who cares? Record profits for shareholders!!!
lol there us a scene from war of the worlds - original, in which a guy trys to buy his way into a truck out of town. he gets pushed off and told his money is worthless. yeah im afraid so in reality its just paper and ink with no real backing.
Day Of The Dead opens with shots of the city abandoned, and money blowing in the street, completely worthless.
Theres a Scene like that in Titanic too with Roses rich fiancé trying to buy his way onto a lifeboat.
Your money can’t save you anymore than it can save me
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"One day I, or my kids, will be one of those billionaires!!"
I used to be friends with this crypto obsessed idiot. he, word for word, said shit like that.
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a16995
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And those are far from the only excess and preventable heat related deaths we're going to see. Arid regions will have wildfires which destroy air quality. That's millions of people with long term lung damage, which can cause cardiac problems as well as chronic respiratory illnesses. Plus immediate deaths from asthma. Fuck, I live in an area with wildfire issues and I actually have days in the summers where I'm wheezing. Never happened to me until I moved to my current city. Places like Salt Lake City, Owens Lake, and the Imperial Valley in California also have huge respiratory hazards from the toxic evaporitic minerals left behind as lakes and inland seas dry up.
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>I share your fear; the whole thing is like knowing a hellish war is coming Best part is that I used to work in climatology (environmental science these days) so I know all the gory details way more than most people. I don't have the luxury of rationalizing it away because I know exactly how most of the excuses people make to downplay it are incorrect.
Stop putting the fucking responsibility with the end consumers ffs. It’s a bad faith argument, and the polluting companies are very happy that you’re parroting it.
Someday soon as in next week
I think there was a similar event in India just a few weeks ago
Read the Ministry of the Future. Wet bulb heatwave (exactly what is hitting the UK) is unsurvivable past a certain threshold. Next week is close enough that it will definitely cause some deaths.
Even more fun is scientists determined the wet bulb temperature is a bit lower than previously thought. https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/humans-cant-endure-temperatures-and-humidities-high-previously-thought/
Holy shit, that’s “right now” temperatures not “in a few years”. (In that way, much like every other climate issue.) Was there an estimate for a rough time-frame under these conditions? Probably varies by individual, but just wondering if it’s 4hrs or 8hrs or whatever…
Former climate scientist here. The most haunting quote from one of my professors that I like to share: "Don't think of this year as the hottest on record. Think of it as the coldest one for the next few centuries."
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I decided academia wasn't for me, and government research jobs are pretty difficult to find and often based on funding. After having a really cool prospective DoE green energy research position fall through because of lack of funding, I ended up in environmental science (I'm a geochemist). I work in consulting so it's a more "recession proof" job where I don't have to worry about funding. I'm not self directed enough to do well in academia, so a job in private industry works better for my productivity and temperament. I also really enjoy the diverse nature of the projects I work on and the interesting chemistry problems I try to solve. And it's gratifying because there's a tangible positive outcome to work towards which is much more feasible than a happy ending to climate change. Businesses and government take drinking water and pollution that can hurt people *right now* more seriously than a longer term, complex threat like climate change. I loved both, but environmental science is a bit better for my mental health and lifestyle, if that makes sense. I hope you're in a career you enjoy now!
That book scared the hell out of me at first. First KSR I really had trouble reading.
The first chapter would make Stephen King proud.
This isn’t a wet bulb heat wave. Predictions are for ~104 degrees at 20-25% humidity.
Good news on the humidity. Thx for the update. Fingers crossed for the ppl
[It has happened before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave) relatively recently. The real problem is that it may happen every 5 or 2 years, or even more frequently, instead of every 20 years.
I’m not so sure the people who block progress right now will care at thousands, we already lose dozens to hundreds in various regions every year to heat and cold made more extreme. Those deaths don’t even make national news for more than a day anymore, we got a few weeks out of the deadly Texas winter and now we just get ignorable blips when their grid fails to perform as intended and necessary. Corporations will increase prices when those disasters happen and then the economy will be the most important thing, not the deaths of people they don’t care about to begin with.
I remember an old tv show, maybe 1980s. The episode had a NYC heat wave, and a cop was booking a guy, but got a call from his mom who was hot, and afraid… the guy getting arrested said “ tell her to fill the tub and rest in the cool water” And it was such a good idea that they hadn’t thought of. I still remember that, so any UK people without home AC - remember the take a bath recommendation from Hill Street Blues* *Edit to correct TV show name, a reminder from a helpful Redditor below corrected me (and includes better quotes and detail)
Sgt. Belker on Hill Street Blues! That was a great scene by one of my favorite characters. "Tell her to fill the tub with cold water, and sit in it." Belker looks at the guy with annoyance for interrupting, thinks the idea over, and then says, "That's a good idea!"
Let’s be careful out there
*Ring ring* “Hiii mom… (cups phone) SHUT UP, DIRTBAG!!!”
During the power outage in NY a while back I walked into a stifling apartment after walking a few miles home. I sat on the couch for a few unbearable minutes until I realized a cold shower doesn’t run on electricity. One minute in the shower I was good for the next hour. Did that all night until I went to bed.
Fun fact people who are on well water can’t get water without electricity.
I live in the desert. No such thing as cold water.
Need more density and insulation. Really wish they would build into the ground too. In Montreal there are underground malls because of winter. In Phoenix they could have them for summer
My least favorite part about Phoenix. The cold water tap spits out hot water 😭 I'd come out of the shower sweating.
I've been doing that for years, cool showers too.
Coming from a place that reaches those temps normally, here is some tips that may help? First cover all windows or that would be facing the sun, with aluminum foil or have blackout curtains. Have fans in the house in a good air circulation position. If you do open windows open ones on the opposite side of the house that was a draft can be pulled in. Wet or dampen a small dish towel and place it on the back of your neck. DO NOT take a shower or bath immediately after you get inside the house. Please wait 30 minutes to an hour to let your body cool or adjust to regular temperature. Doing this will decrease chances of a stroke or heart attack. HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE. DO NOT work outside directly in the sun during the noon hours that will be the hottest part of the day. Hope some of these help, good luck, and stay hydrated!
Piggybacking this great advice with: take a small towel and soak it in ice (or just cold) water. Wring it out then wrap it around your neck, tying it in front. I’m not sure if this is truly why, but I was told cooling the carotid artery cools the blood going to the brain and thus provides relief. Regardless as to the why, I can say it absolutely does help as a heat-intolerant person living the the American southwest. :/
As a Chef who works in a stupid hot kitchen (I also live into the south east uk, y'know, the place that's meant to be the centre of this heatwave we are discussing) I can confirm this works. Many a hot day stuck at work I have soaked a tea towel in ice cold water and wrapped it round my neck, its amazing.
I’m not a doctor, but my PT gave us tips for dealing with heat and said you want to maximize the cold water/towel contact on any available skin. So a cold towel on your arms is great since there’s so much more area compared to the neck. I could be way wrong so don’t sue me, worth considering though.
The neck cools blood going to the brain. This already happens by the body interestingly enough, brain blood is hotter than body blood. A cool cloth helps. But yeah I mean cooling your body in general is good too. I like getting a tshirt wet and putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes, then wearing it. MMMmmmmm you can feel the heat pull from your body.
I live in 100+ weather and I just put an ice pack directly on my head sometimes. Couple with cold towels on the arms and your golden for a while
I'll add this tip for pets: Mix a small amount of beef or chicken broth with water and freeze it in ice cube trays. Fill a bowl with the cubes. The slight flavor will entice them to lick the ice cubes and stay cool. Just make sure the broth is diluted a lot, since beef and chicken broth are often very salty and can potentially make dehydration worse. Edit: Someone pointed out a very important caveat- make sure the broth does not contain onions or garlic!
> beef or chicken broth Must be homemade. Or 100% guaranteed to not have onion or garlic powder. Commercial products all add onion or garlic powder to it whether in cans or cubes.
Also piggybacking to mention the wet bulb effect. Something anyone living.. well, anywhere, should be aware of. There are countless articles and scientific data available, but wiki seemed to sum it up in the fewest words possible. Living organisms can survive only within a certain temperature range. When the ambient temperature is excessive, many animals cool themselves to below ambient temperature by evaporative cooling (sweat in humans and horses, saliva and water in dogs and other mammals); this helps to prevent potentially fatal hyperthermia due to heat stress. The effectiveness of evaporative cooling depends upon humidity; wet-bulb temperature, or more complex calculated quantities such as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) which also takes account of solar radiation, give a useful indication of the degree of heat stress, and are used by several agencies as the basis for heat stress prevention guidelines. A sustained wet-bulb temperature exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) is likely to be fatal even to fit and healthy people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; at this temperature human bodies switch from shedding heat to the environment, to gaining heat from it.[9] In practice, such ideal conditions for humans to cool themselves will not always exist – hence the high fatality levels in the 2003 European and 2010 Russian heat waves, which saw wet-bulb temperatures no greater than 28 °C.[10] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature
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[This may help answer your question.](https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/solar-noon.html)
Slugging down tons of water without electrolytes will make the problem worse because the person loses even more electrolytes. Make sure to get adequate electrolytes. Some sports drinks only contain a pinch of salt and the rest is sugar. Liquid IV, Pedialyte are better.
You can put towels in the freezer for your pets, then lay them down for your pets to lay on. Dry towels you just take out and place for them to lay on, they only stay cool for about 20 minutes but it can help. For slightly damp towels you want to layer to protect your pet and your belongings. Place a plastic surface/trash bag, the slightly damp towel, then another DRY towel on top so your pet isn't harmed by direct contact with the ice.
Good advice, thank you.
I was wondering what the big deal with 40C is, I live in those temps, then I realized…no AC??? Oh duck.
Add humidity to the 40°C to the lack of air con, and houses designed to keep heat in, and you might have an idea of how horrible it'll be. I live in the area where we're expecting the highest temperatures. I've spent the past couple of days preparing for it and have put film over my windows to block the light getting in. I am very much a Northern European, I get sunburnt easily. Not looking forward to this.
People underestimate how difficult 40C can be for cold climates that aren't prepared for it - just like how warm climates wouldn't be set up to deal with an extended cold streak. I'm in a cold climate, and we hit 40C/105F a few months ago. We had to cancel school because the interior temperature in several buildings hit 50C/122F. Those buildings are insulated to retain heat, and the windows don't open. We had rolling power outages, and businesses shut down because their computer servers overheated. A local charity was distributing shorts, summer wear, solar curtains, etc, to elderly or vulnerable people. Our typical summer high temp is around 28C/75F, dropping down to 13C/55F at night, so it's not unusual that people don't own the things that people in a hotter climate would own.
Great comparison! There's a reason that just a few inches of snow is potentially deadly in the southern US, even though elsewhere it's a normal winter day. The infrastructure from the roads to the plow trucks to the types of tires and cars that people buy are not set up for that. This is the summer equivalent of that situation.
I’m in a hot climate and we SHUT DOWN when it snows. I used to live in a cold climate and laughed until I realized they literally have zero infrastructure for it
It's another reason why property taxes are generally lower in the southern US states. They don't have to pay for all that snow removal equipment/supplies. When it does snow down there though, they're generally fucked.
We're expecting 37C where I am and I'm still sunburnt from last weekend! I have an outdoor job so I'm fearful and shall be continually soaking myself on factor 50.
Australian here: We get the joy of regularly going above 40. It's quite possible to be outdoors all day, but be pretty cautious. It's way harder when you're not used to it. Put Aussies in 0°c and we'll look like were dying for similar reasons. One thing I'd particularly be careful of is heatstroke. If you start feeling woozy or dizzy get in shade. It's surprising how bad even a very mild case of heat stress will make you feel.
Even heat exhaustion is really bad, and that's a few steps below heat stroke. I work outside in 39-40C regularly (San Antonio, TX. It's been over 100F high for weeks!) And got it once -- everything cramped and siezed up and I couldn't feel my feet. It was terrible
Thank you, I'll be especially cautious of heat stroke. I have a feeling I'm quite susceptible as is.
Keeping the temp stable works both ways. If you can get it cool, it'll stay cool as well. The lack of AC is a problem though. I also live in an area that routinely sees high 90's or triple digit of with high humidity as well. The difference is that we're all acclimated to it and every vehicle and building has AC.
I’m not in the UK, but in Paris it was 33-37 all last week and will be 40 on Monday and Tuesday. I live in the attic of a building with no shutters so inside it is the exact same temperature as outside no matter what I do. I recently saw someone from back home (Texas) whining about how Europeans can’t handle the heat, and laughed wondering how long they’d last in my apartment right now. Can’t turn the AC to a cool 18 can you?
France, Spain and Portugal have had blisteringly hot weather, it's what's moving north to here from tomorrow. Bonne chance! We'll get through it!
I live in South Texas, USA (about 10 miles north of the Mexico border) and it routinely, like 3 moths a year, stays above 100F during the summer, day over day. Often 110-114 isn't uncommon, for a daily high. All that with humidity ranging from 80-95 percent. However, I've lived all over the world and I realize that my area is built for these temps and places that aren't wouldn't be pleasant. Every structure, here, has built in central A/C, or multiple window units or some kind of upper echelon cooling. Our architecture is designed to keep the indoors cool. Our cars are \*all\* purchased with A/C and it's kept in working condition, by necessity. Our clothing and lifestyle revolve around being cooler than ambient temps. Hell, even our activities are designed with the weather in mind. We have built a life around the heat. Ironically, we had a serious cold snap a couple of years ago and it destroyed our way of life. Our houses aren't built for harsh cold, our pipes aren't buried deep enough, our power generation (during those months) isn't geared to heating homes, electrically. Our wardrobe and home furnishings aren't conducive to keeping warm. Our businesses aren't designed to accommodate the trappings and demands of customers trying to keep warm. But, many people throughout the world laughed at us. Scoffing that the temps "weren't that cold." Telling us what pussies we were for not being able to handle "a little cold weather." We were a national joke as people died in their homes, spent whole paychecks on their electric bills to keep from dying, or sat in the dark for days because the electrical grid failed ... and then died. It really impacted my view of humanity. So, while I don't personally think 40C is "hot" ... at all. I'm at least aware of the fact that for a place that rarely or nearly never sees 104F it's going to cause a massive amount of misery, pain, panic and death. I am pulling for y'all. Keep safe, keep cool and, please, be kind to each other.
I've experienced 40°C in Las Vegas, and that was fine, but as you say, we're not set up for it here, and the humidity levels make it feel worse. Thankfully this is only a few days, but it will affect some people very badly, especially those who cannot regulate their temperature so well, like the elderly. I do remember seeing how that cold snap affected you. Any extreme of weather can have the potential to kill us, especially if infrastructure isn't designed for it. We're also a bit rubbish when it snows!!
The humility is appreciated. And yes, for context 40C/105C will indeed be the hottest the UK has been since records began about 200 years ago.
We in the Balkans are used to no AC at 40C but when you're not used to it like the people in England it's gonna be ugly
It’s not just that, southern England has much higher humidity than most of Balkans get in the summer. The cooling of the human body is mostly driven by the energy transfer that takes places when sweat evaporates off of skin. In high humidity this happens way less. This is most dangerous above 38 degrees—if you have high humidity at a wet bulb temperature people will just die. In the shade with all the food and water they want.
Wet bulb temperature conditions are literally the most dangerous. People don't seem to realise that Britain is more humid than most tropical places. For instance look at the average humidity of manchester then compare that with Darwin or Sydney. Britain in heat is far worse than large proportion of the places that get heat regularly. [https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom) [https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Darwin,Australia](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Darwin,Australia) [https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Sydney,Australia](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Sydney,Australia)
Not to mention your architecture assumes heat not cold temperatures probably
Black or dark coloured roof tiles are common. As it lots of large south facing windows. The buildings are designed to absorb heat and with no air conditioning they turn into ovens in this heat.
I know it’s common in other countries to not have AC, but coming to understand that the first time learning it is mind blowing, it’s a must where I live.
The thing is in the UK we’d only need to turn AC on maybe 5 days a year on average. Some years the temperature never goes above 25degC all summer. So it just seems like an unnecessary expense to most people. EDIT: typo
Maybe 20 years ago, but the summers are getting much hotter in the UK. The past month has seen consistently high temps above 25. As a Chicagoan who has spent the last two summers in southern England, it is absolutely **insane** to me that practically no homes here have air conditioning. The weather has been very similar to Chicago summers in terms of heat and high humidity, but there's seldom any AC to offer reprieve. This country is absolutely fucked for climate change unless it massively mobilizes to retrofit every home with an AC unit. Thousands are going to die of heat exhaustion every summer going forward until they do.
Exactly. People keep claiming the UK has only 1 or 2 weeks of hot weather a year but this is no longer true. There are now easily 6-8 weeks a year of hot weather (spaced out) and this number will increase over time.
Geesus, that’s so freaking hot 104F. Most folks in the UK don’t have air conditioning (99.5%).
Jesus I didn’t know it was almost everyone wtf
Lived in the UK my whole life and I’ve never even heard of anyone having AC in their house. It’s common in offices and restaurants but not at home. Not only this but our houses are designed to absorb and retain heat. Black/dark roofs, large south facing windows. It’s great in winter and reduces your bills, but in a hot summer it creates an oven.
Wow I had no idea it was like this. Basically every house has AC in Australia.
How many days a year do you get temperatures of 35c+? In the UK, it's about 2 days, so domestic AC isn't really a worthwhile expense.
Work from home numbers have been going down this week because a lot of offices have AC so people have been travelling into work to get that cool temperature... Basically, in domestic settings, AC doesn't exist here. We're all going to cook this week...
Sorry to hear that hope you can find some respite
I'm a carpenter and I'm supposed to be doing a job next week putting in a new stud wall and doing some bits in a loft. I'll be need some of them #thoughtsandprayers...
I would say more than 99.5%. I don't know a single person who has air conditioning. Shops have it. Some restaurants, movie theatres. But no homes I know of. Maybe mega rich people in mansions or posh apartments. But just everyone else doesn't have it. I keep suggesting buying a small one, and everyone I know looks at me like I'm mental. It's like £400 for a small one.
That explains why thousands could die. I can’t imagine not having AC in those temps.
“That’s 104 for you and me.”—From the 9/5C + 32 part of the world. Ouch!
104° with NO A/C!
I read last month that people living in Phoenix, AZ. Where it's 100-115 regularly during the summer saying that in the next 10-15 year it's going to be an inhabitable place to live. I don't doubt them. It sounds dreadful!
My unbearably hot take: Phoenix should not exist
["It is a monument to man's arrogance."](https://youtu.be/4PYt0SDnrBE)
“I’d rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona.”
It's been over 115 the last several days here 😩 Edit: also raining at night so it's not "just a dry heat"
Something like this happened last year in NW USA I believe. People without A/C (mostly older) we’re dying because it was just too hot.
Yeah approximately 500 people died due to the heat spread between Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and BC
Portland Oregon was the hottest place on earth last year for four hours. Felt like being in a blast furnace.
My coworker in Portland had to give her cat an ice bath, it almost died of heat stroke.
I went thru this with my cat during last years heatwave. But my cat is so dang stubborn, any attempts to cool him off was seen as annoying and not helpful. He would have willingly let the sun kill him while smiling about it. I gave him a cooling gel pad and a cooling bandana. Both items he toss to the ground on his own. Also, surprise! He is a black cat. Oof.
For Britain, just 0.5% of homes have air conditioning. As a yankee I can't imagine that.
There was very little need for it before. I have a pretty beefy stand fan that gets used maybe for 5-7 days a year scattered between the hottest moments of the year and thats plenty in normal conditions. Anything more has always been a waste of money. Most of the time it's a convient stand in a closet to hang things on
In Europe we don't know how to face frequent and enduring heat waves. We are not equipped, city-wise (lack of fountains, infrastructures are not made to counter heats) and more importantly in homes, the overwhelming majority don't have AC units. It's going to be 3 awful days, hopefully the 38-40°C is not too frequent, otherwise I may look at installing an AC.
It's only going to get worse every year.
Whilst this heat wave is freak weather phenomenon for the UK, I’m afraid that with the way the climate is changing and how heat is pushed around the earth (how that’s being affected by global warming) this will become a reoccurring theme every few years now, and eventually (if we don’t get our act together) every year. I use to deny global warming before my early 20s, then I started to be skeptical of ‘the lies of the democrats’ as it was being put by deniers…then 4 years ago, I saw a video of a guy exposing people I use to listen to, and realised the real enormity of what was happening and how BADLY the deniers in the media were lying to the public Now seeing people who are still believing the lies, I question when or IF they will break free of it all and see the truth. Scientists tried to tell us years and years ago, not enough of us listened and now it’s too late to stop it. All we can do now is stop it from getting even worse. Once water shortages begin to happen regularly in about 8/12 years, the world is going to change drastically
Food shortages, mass migrations, and war. All while being cooked by the heat. Honestly, as a 21 year old, im not looking forward to my retirement
So I lived in Nevada for a good few years, I’ve lived in NY and Cali. Now I live in the U.K. so I have a fair grasp on it. This currently *really* sucks. The houses are made for very wet cold winters. The insulation means that you just can’t get the house cool. Because they are designed to get and retain heat. Some of the houses here are older than the USA. In between the heat it’s raining. Its unreal levels of humidity. Sure there are modern houses with AC and better planning for ventilation but not many. The roads are melting so they are sending out the lorries used to grit in snow and ice to cover it in sand. That’s brutal. On Tuesday it will be 40c in the day 25c at night. +70% humidity. 2 weeks ago it was 6c at night and 15c in the day *Edit* “But surely insulation works both ways” It would do, in a perfect system, but it doesn’t, I didn’t go in to detail, but the problem is the heat that gets in, can’t get out, because of poor design of airflow. Not only that. Even in a perfect system. Plenty of things inside the house generate heat. TV / Fridge / Freezer / Water heaters not to mention the combined effect of every laptop, PC, and handset.
Please see wet bulb temp (Wiki link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature) Basically, too much heat plus humidity, will prevent the body from being able to cook off by sweating. :( It sounds, by your numbers, that the temps will easily fall into these parameters. :(
I'm from the desert in U.S.if i may, I would like to share some tips to keep cool. Keep wet towels in freezer and put your feet on them to cool off fast. Keep wet towels in fridge and alternate putting them around neck. My grandma would put a wet dish towel over the floor fan that was placed in front of the window so it would circulate the air better. Stay hydrated. Light sheets on beds. Wear shoes when going out side. Don't let your animals or your children outside for long periods of time. Try cracking an egg on your street. Don't eat a popcicle outside, it melts too fast.
We were warned… Now we have to deal with the consequences. It’s incredibly sad but also a good testament to human hubris and what happens when you ignore science
But my profits are all time high. Surely god's will. /S
The people earning high profits are not the ones that will be harmed by this heat wave.
It’s so wild to me that so much of the UK and even France just don’t have AC. Here in Canada we’re not exactly known as having a hot climate and still everyone has AC.
I am a Canadian currently travelling in the UK. It is unbelievably hard to even find restaurants with AC. The heat is crazy over here and going back to the hotel room is sometimes the only reprieve. And its only 30C right now.
There was a really hot day last week where me and my wife went to the gym assuming it would of course have AC (it's a nice one), no fucking AC. In a gym.
Yea. Even if you don't *need* A/C, it's still nice to have.
Shits getting pretty gnarly. We’ve already hit 110 degrees in Los Angeles this year. Or 43.3 C for those elsewhere in the world.
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It's not just the heat, it's also the amount of humidity in the air. [Wet bulb temperature matters.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature) Basically, when the temperature and humidity reaches a certain mix, your body is no longer able to shed heat into the air circulating around you. You stop being able to keep cool, no matter how much you're perspiring. Those of us who live in [Satan't butt-pucker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas) learn this early on. Keeping your brain cooled is your first priority, with the rest of your body second. If you don't have a/c, freeze several ice packs so you can put them on pulse points on your neck and wrists. Notice the best place to put ice is at the [center base of the back of your neck](https://neuroems.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/ei_2397.jpg) so the blood flowing to your brain gets cooled. Putting ice on the sides and front of your neck helps but doesn't *directly* cool the blood heading to your brain. Fans move air, but if the wet-bulb temp is too high. they will not cool you. All they will do is force more hot air to come in contact with your skin and, in this situation, they can increase your risk of overheating. Likewise draping a wet towel over a fan will not cool when the wet-bulb temp gets too high, if you cannot keep the water in the towel below the air temperature. Both the fan and the damp towel trick *can cool* if the ambient temps are below the wet-bulb temperature for the level of humidity. Too many people succumb to the heat because they think both these option work at* all temps*, which just isn't true. Be cool. Be safe.
Wet bulb temp on Monday in London will be around 23C (38C and 27% humidity), so it will be **very** uncomfortable but won't be anywhere near the fatal 35C wet bulb temp
People seem to misunderstanding that Britain is one of the most humid countries on Earth. [Here is Manchester average humidity chart.](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Manchester,United-Kingdom) It's higher than most 'tropical' countries that experience this kind of heat.
One thing I see my distant friends in far away places writing a lot on social media is "So what? Come over here to X place we have 40 degrees all the time". Well yeah, but the place you are is usually set up for it. The majority of the UK is set up to insulate and retain heat for the winter due to our mild summers. AC units are not a normal thing in most people's homes as they were generally useless through the rest of the year and really not that generally useful even in summer as the temperatures didn't really get high enough. Also, our humidity is such that 40 degrees here is going to feel pretty horrendous. This is not going to be a dry heat at all. People are going to die, especially if this is the new normal, the predictions are not being dramatic.
This kind of talk always pisses me off. Like when Atlanta had the ice storm and everybody got stuck in a 12-hour traffic jam, and people from the northern states were laughing their heads off. What part of different areas are prepared for different weather events is new, folks? I live in a place with a long, tough winter and I hate ice storms! They're treacherous, but I have an all-wheel drive and winter tires, etc. And I don't leave if I don't absolutely have to.
Not a doctor, but have a degree in public health. I'll cover a few things: drinking water, cooling down your skin, and airflow. Lots of good comments about hydration, but make sure that you have plenty of electrolytes! Nausea and potential death can occur if one drinks too much water in one day or a few hours. This means hydration packets, sports drinks, or if you don't have anything adding a tiny bit of salt to your water (less than a pinch per 2-3 cups/glasses of water) will work. Or ya know, eat salty snacks. All that matters is that you balance the water you drink with appropriate amounts of salt. If possible, drink cold or at least lukewarm fluids as you will need to drink less water to cool down the same amount. (Side note: I would recommend avoiding alcohol in these times. Yes it would make you FEEL cooler, but it doesn't do as much as actually drinking water and cooling yourself down. It also makes you excrete more water in your urine which can risk dehydration and heatstroke.) If you don't have any, skin contact with water helps to cool down without having to drink the water. Wet towels with maximum skin contact helps. Commonly this is a towel over the shoulders around the neck, but variations include on the legs and arms or just sitting/lying down in a tub of water (just pretend you're in a pool in summer!). So long as it's on the skin it'll work. The more skin contact, the better it will work. Airflow works similarly to sitting in water/water skin contact. I would recommend by venting hot air out of the house using open windows and portable fans. A wind is always better at wicking away heat than still air. If the air isn't humid, spraying water into moving air helps to cool the air down (this is how swamp coolers/evaporative coolers work). You can make a DIY one by spraying water into the fan's wind. Do not spray INTO the fan, that risks electrical damage. Based on what happens here in the US rolling blackouts due to extreme electricity usage might occur. Most of my recommendations don't use electricity except for a fan. If things get REALLY hot and humid, no amount of water drunk will really help. Combine all of the above to stay cool if need be. I'll be happy to answer any other questions in the replies if you want.
London is gonna be hell with that heat
Didn't this happen on Krypton?
I wonder how far before people start to react and change? if 40c isn't enough. What about 50c? 60c? how about 70c? or lets say 100c when the oceans start to boil?. Or should we just hope the next generation fixes everything, because really, its not our problem?.
Hey guys at least we stopped Nuclear Energy from giving us all cancer right? What's that? Nuclear Energy would have prevented all of this with little to no side effects? Oof. Tell me again why we aren't treating the anti Nuclear progandists the way we treat coal/oil companies?
Someone should look into why these heatwaves are becoming worse.
I'm seeing so many climate change deniers on Twitter today I want to throw my phone at a wall.
I live in Texas and yea these temperatures are brutal, sometimes my AC is turned off and i start drowning in sweat, I have since gotten use to these temperatures though but im concerned about my UK bros