Why is everyone losing their mind about 28 degrees?

[Vipersgonnavipe]

All I have seen online today are calls for schools to shut, activities to be called off, and some sort of national emergency to be declared over a few hot days.

3 years ago we got to 40 degrees where I am, and nothing closed. What’s the madness about this time?

I agree that schools should not be mithering on about blazers, and water should be available, and sports day in full sun is probably foolish. But really, closing?

Please see the post above. The dogs went on a walk this evening. They go out when it gets cooler. I won't take them out very early as I have neighbours

I acknowledge that houses and offices are not necessarily designed for the heat here, but I also fin dit odd. But then, I'm constantly surprised when I hear that people are leaving all their doors/windows and curtains closed to "keep the heat out". I understand the principle, but I think heat with fresh air is always better than heat with NO air.

But then, I come from South Africa and our houses are designed to have plenty of windows and doors to encourage breezes etc. Great in summer, less fabulous for our brief, but painful, winters!

I had a chuckle at some of the posts on FB today too. I'm a chef so used to working in the heat. The other year when we had the 40° heatwave, the thermometer in the kitchen was reading 52°. No Aircon in the kitchen, just a shitty fan with a bucket of ice behind It and some frozen blue roll in the bra. It was bloody hot. Just stood still we were all dripping wet and we'd already changed our chef whites for our t-shirts.

Totally appreciate this is an exception and when you work in the heat all the time you acclimatise to it. Honestly though, I'm glad it's falling on my weekend off so I actually get to enjoy it!

I don't live in the UK and the elderly seem to cope just fine with heat here, because they use their common sense.

Haha!

That’s all I can say to that.

I close the curtains/blinds when out at work all day if the temp is going to get above about 25 degrees as my house then stays cooler (feels about 22 though just an estimate). We open the windows early in the morning to let in cool air, then open again in evening. This is what my Mediterranean family do with the shutters.

Even "40 degrees" wasn't hot at all, I was in central london then. With the low humidity (usually much less than 50%) UK weather defaults to at high temps, it was a (literal) breeze. Try being at 20 to 30 degrees in countries with 70-100% humidity.

And for that reason all the press headlines about UK being hotter than (whatever country) are made up rubbish. Humidity is the real killer

This.

It's such a bizarre question OP. Are you British? 28 degrees is about the limit of what most native British people can cope with and that's only if they don't have to work and can rest up more. It's easier if there's a breeze. Over 28 degrees though or if people have to go about their usual daily activities and most start feeling ill or at least tired, too hot and grumpy. Everyone adapts evolutionarily to their environment and British bodies aren't designed for hot weather. If you're born somewhere hot and you got used to it in the womb, then you come out pre-adapted for the heat I guess and would think Britain is cold even in summer.

Why do people repeatedly make this point?? It’s not hard to understand how a country like Sweden which gets huge amounts of snow every year will manage so much better than us. It would be insane for UK authorities to invest in the equipment Scandinavian countries have for one snow day a year so we do struggle with the snow because we can’t clear it. Not hard to grasp?

Equally very hot countries have buildings built to reduce heat whereas most of ours are designed to contain heat.

So yes we don’t cope with extremes of temperatures because we’re not used to them.

I love these threads. People in the UK always think they're so unique including in negative ways. Yes nobody else complains about the weather it is just you lot.

Meanwhile my mother (not British) believes that her grandchildren will get damaged kidneys if they sit in a draft.

I don’t remember anything at all closing when it was 40 degrees.

It was just business as usual everywhere, but hotter.

OP I think there’s a reaction when it gets this hot as it’s unusual - and our infrastructure isn’t designed for it, so it’s difficult to escape from. In a hot country you’ll probably have air con, shady terraces with fans, houses designed to stay cool - we don’t have any of that so the heat can be intense when it’s here.

@HedwigIsMySpiritAnimal of course bodies' adaptations will differ but having lived in different buildings in the UK for years I don't really believe the building point at all

I was at the beach yesterday and there was a young teen couple by us. Her in a tiny string bikini, him in his shorts, both in white sports socks pulled up to mid-calf

I don’t get the fuss either OP. Sympathy for those that have to work in uncomfortable conditions but for the likes of my colleagues who drive to an air-conditioned office in air-conditioned cars and then spend all day mothering that it’s too hot [outside] I have no time.

My friend and I worked in Jersey for the summer season in the 1976 heatwave, fantastic time. Can't stand it too hot now.

I live on the south coast and am ok with this sort of weather even if I am too hot, I remember very well the long hot summer of 1976 where the temperature was very high for months, not just a few days or a week at a time.

I tend to be slightly cooler where I live as I am a few minutes from the sea so I get a slight breeze but I have a long north facing garden and my patio keeps cool and shady when the weather is really hot. I can use the patio all day, unlike my last house with it's south facing garden that was far too hot to even step outside let alone sit out there.

for the likes of my colleagues who drive to an air-conditioned office in air-conditioned cars and then spend all day mithering that it’s too hot [outside] I have no time.

Indeed.
I think most posters who complain about the heating live and work in London and have to contend with hot public transport and hot offices.

I live on a hill where it is always breezy and drive to an air conditioned office in an air conditioned car. I usually end up wearing a cardigan at work to keep warm and then sit outside on my lunch break to get warm.

We also don't get the extremely hot temperatures that London and the south east does or even cities do. It's usually 2 or 3 degrees cooler where I am than in the middle of Sheffield.

I work as a dog walker so this time of year always means early starts and lots of home visits in people’s gardens. I’m by the coast with very little access to shade so I don’t tend to walk over 23 degrees unless it’s just a short comfort break.

Personally I quite like this kind of weather but it does make running a business with animals a bit difficult.

I’ve had to think carefully about what to wear today. I work in a building which gets extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter. It’s a very old building. We have a dress code as I’m public facing so I don’t have the luxury of being able to rock up in shorts and a vest, or joggers and a hoodie in winter.
It’s even worse for dh. He has to keep walking outside at work as it’s unbearable otherwise. Some of his colleagues work on the top floor, massive windows which face the sun but don’t open due to ‘safety issues’. No air con, no blinds, just the blazing sun on them for hours.

I do like this weather, just prefer to not be working in it.

I think some people miss the general panic of 2020. Having something to panic or moan about makes them feel safe. And I'm only partly joking. Ditto snow: one flake, and it's mass panic, shut everything down, close the schools.

Our summer is so short, yet people wish it away almost at once. Children hardly get the benefit of it, because they're stuck in school doing exams, and the best of the warmth is usually over by the time term ends.

Ah sorry misunderstood! I have a collie cross that acts as if we never take her out every time we leave the house. She runs is tiny circles yelping. I understand the street shame 😂

I know people who teach in the Middle East where it’s regularly over 40 degrees and schools are fine…but they’re designed to be cool, completely air conditioned (even outside in places!) and they change the school day to start very early and finish before it’s at its hottest.

Oh,..and schools do close - when it rains!

I know, I grew up in Spain and people definitely moaned about the weather there too 😂.

I think the problem is that lots of British people are ignorant about how to manage the heat, so when it does get a bit warm,, they handle it badly and then make a massive fuss about it.

We need to accept that the climate is changing and that the weather is getting warmer, so people need to learn how to live with it. The temperatures that we get in the UK are still very easy to cope with if people know what they're doing.