Hot, hot, hot...

[emeraldking]

There's a heat wave going on in Western Europe...
Eventhough, I'm mixed Indonesian, it's not even funny for me anymore... But that's also because I have to be careful for my heart, lungs and blood with this heat. The climate we have overhere with the current heat, makes it uncomfortable. When I was in Mexico last year, we also had these high temperatures but with a different climate than ours, it was doable.

 

[Essjay]

The heatwave here ended overnight.

A Pakistani friend and our Romanian daughter-in-law have both been struggling despite being used to even hotter temperatures. It's the humidity which is the issue - being an island surrounded by water it gets quite humid here.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

In Feb 1978 I boarded a plane for Saudi Arabia where I had accepted a job. There was a blizzard in NYC shortly before I left. The city was virtually shut down and I was trying to shop for suitable clothing for the desert. My job and apartment where on the West coast of the country in Al Kobar just south of Dammam on the Gulf.

I thought I knew what hot weather was until I hit my first summer. While the operation In which I was pout in charge was batching close to 200,000 cubic meter of concrete, I also got stuck with having to do the punch list for a civil works project the company had done for a major power substation.

Part of theat set up was a huge covered car park. It had no sides just roof. I set up a command post in the car park and I happened to put a thermometer on the table, To get the work done I had every worker from clerks to cooks and everything in between working. I felt that I could not asked the men to do the work and not be out there with them. We were there for 3 days. In the shade of the roof that thermometer topped out over the 3 day at 129, 130 and 130F aka 53.89, 54.44 and 54.44/ It was also humid for the desert.

I took a two week vacation over the Xmas/New years season, When I returned Saudi Arabia had some of the biggest rain storms in decades. Everything flooded. Nothing drains there and I spent my final months in Jeddah running the yard. The water ran down the mountains outside of city, through the city and into the red Sea. In the midst of the rain I watched a guy watering the tress planted outside one of the palaces. It was Thursday which was his day to water and despite the fact there was about 18 inches of water on the ground there he stood with a big hose watering the water.

Btw, it takes about 15 minutes sitting out at the pool I could use during my lunch break to get a nasty sunburn.

 

[GaryE]

I was in London for a heatwave before the pandemic, and what struck me was how there was little infrastructure to cope with it. Nothing was designed to take that heat into account, much like older housing in my city, Montreal. You've had some bad ones since, so I hope some elements of planning/preparedness have adjusted. There, I found myself in temperatures that would have been difficult at home, but that were absolutely brutal there.

I had my heart set on finally getting to dig through the British Natural History Museum on that trip, but it was a hazy sea of sweat in there. Even the Charles Darwin statue looked like it was perspiring, and it was marble.

I used to have trouble after our Montreal heatwaves, because older heaters would sometimes stick in the on position when the room was hotter than I wanted the water to be. I would unplug them as soon as it heated up, and leave them off for a few weeks.

 

[gwand]

I remember the 2003 European heat wave when 10,000-15,000 French citizens died. Talk about lack of infrastructure!

 

[seangee]

The heatwave here ended overnight.

A Pakistani friend and our Romanian daughter-in-law have both been struggling despite being used to even hotter temperatures. It's the humidity which is the issue - being an island surrounded by water it gets quite humid here.

Speak for yourself. Just been outside (21:20) and its still 28 degrees in the bits that have been shaded all afternoon.
Rain and cooler weather forecast for tomorrow - which the Bing adverising machine is trying to force me to click (to take somewhere else) by announcing temperatures to plummet tommorow
Independent forecast does show 10 degrees cooler, but I suspect nobody will be reaching for their jumpers or turning the heating back on.

 

[seangee]

You've had some bad ones since, so I hope some elements of planning/preparedness have adjusted.

In a word
No!

 

[emeraldking]

I had even 50°C in the shade when I was in Luxor, Egypt... No fun there with that heat...

The heatwave here ended overnight.

A Pakistani friend and our Romanian daughter-in-law have both been struggling despite being used to even hotter temperatures. It's the humidity which is the issue - being an island surrounded by water it gets quite humid here.

That's the point, the humidity differs elsewhere...

I remember the 2003 European heat wave when 10,000-15,000 French citizens died. Talk about lack of infrastructure!

I remember that... For it was that hot in our country as well. And yes, sadly a lot of vctims caused by the severe heat.

 

[Essjay]

Speak for yourself. Just been outside (21:20) and its still 28 degrees in the bits that have been shaded all afternoon.

We've had a cold northerly wind all day. I was actually shivering outside in a T shirt this afternoon.

 

[seangee]

Just been in the garden with the dog. It felt like it dropped a couple of degrees when it got dark and a gentle breeze came up for about 10 minutes before subsiding again. It was fairly pleasant out there, until I was reminded why my pond fish thrive, despite the fact that its been years since I stopped giving them food

 

[Innesfan]

Just read an article about the various heatwaves in the northern hemisphere titled, "June Is the New July."

 

[fishorama]

We're having coolish breezy weather here. Maybe a La Nina or El Nino summer? I'm not quite sure how that works. I'm not complaining, but low 70Fs is not the shorts wearing temps of a few days ago. Much better than 90F+ we often get, but too windy for grilling. It's early days, I'm sure it'll be HOT soon enough.

 

[plebian]

Speak for yourself. Just been outside (21:20) and its still 28 degrees in the bits that have been shaded all afternoon.

Hell, it's that warm in our air conditioned house sometimes, because the A/C can't keep up. Just saying.

The hottest I've ever been is when a buddy and me were trying to hitch a ride after crossing the border at Mexicali (with our surf boards). I checked a thermometer at a gas (petrol) station across the street from where we were standing, 120F but that was only because it was maxed out. I later read in the news it hit 126F that day.

On a somewhat related note, I was driving through New Mexico one summer when a thunder storm broke out. It was so hot and dry that the rain was evaporating before it hit the ground. I put my arm out of the window and was able to reach up just high enough to feel the rain against my outstretched palm, but the road was bone dry. You could see a layer of water vapor less than 6 feet above the ground. It was surreal.

 

[Colin_T]

Your body needs a couple of weeks to adapt to hot or cold weather. It can do this if the temperature goes up slowly over a month or so but problems arise when the temperature goes up 10C+ in one day. Then you feel it.

It's easy enough to deal with hot weather, just stay out of it. Stay indoors during the middle of the day. Keep the doors, windows and curtains closed to stop the heat coming in. Open the house up at night (if it's safe to do so) and let it cool down overnight, then close it up again the next morning when it starts to warm up again.

Minimise the use of electrical appliances so you don't add to the heat in the house.

If you have to go outside during the middle of the day, wear a broad brim hat or use an umbrella to keep the sun off you. You can also wear a long sleeve cotton shirt and soak it in water first, then go outside. As the water evaporates it cools you down. I used to stand under the shower in jeans, t-shirt and long sleeve shirt to get soaked then go outside to work or cycle.

Drink plenty of water when it's hot and avoid physical exertion where possible.

If you have animals, provide them with clean drinking water, shade and maybe turn a sprinkler on for them. Small animals and birds can be brought indoors during the heat of the day.

If this is going to become a regular feature, invest in shadecloth and hang it over your yard in spring, summer and autumn, or at least during summer. Encourage trees to grow to shade the yard too.

To help grass and plants deal with heat, don't water them too often in spring. Water them well once of twice a week and let them send their roots down into the soil in search of water. Then their roots don't get as hot and they have longer root systems that can take up more moisture from the soil. Don't cut grass too short because the grass leaf shades the soil and roots and stops them getting so hot. Cut the grass so it's 2-4 inches long in summer, shorter in winter.

If you are overheating or feel too hot, stand under a cold shower (wet your head too) for a few minutes and then stand or sit in front of a fan. If you wear a t-shirt under the shower it will hold more moisture and you cool off better when in front of the fan.

 

[GaryE]

@plebian - that description of the rain in New Mexico is incredible. What a thing to have seen.

I was impressed by some of the medieval city streets in Spain, where shade awnings were stretched between buildings several stories up, and made a difference. Those of us who live in the temperate north are going to have to learn some things.

I'm generally the cruel ^&^%^% from the cool temperature zone. I used to work outside in a yard where rows and rows of steel plate in racks reflected the sun and drove the heat to barely tolerable levels, but to make a living, we learned to tolerate it for a few weeks. My body works much better at sub-zero temps than it does in high humidity heat. But bodies don't always get choices.

In the hot stretch of inland summer, my fishtanks would be dormant. I did my water changes and kept my fish alive, but no projects were possible.

Here it rained all night, and politely stopped at 5 AM. It's a bright sunny day that is predicted to climb to the low 20s. The sea is blue and sparkling, and the songbirds are fighting over turf. Sorry everyone.