Work not taking red alert seriously

[Founderflower]

Why are some people not taking the red weather warning seriously? Where I am it’s 39 degrees on Wed/ Thur but ‘feels like’ 42 according to BBC.

At work they’re expecting everyone in - the office is air conditioned, so fine, but we’re central London so everyone needs to schlep in on public transport.

Red means a danger to life and not just for vulnerable people. Some people who are healthy will die because of the weather. There’s warnings of power outages and transport failures. So what happens if we get stuck on a broken down underground train?

I KNOW other countries see these temps regularly. But they are prepared for dealing with it. England is not and it fucks up. I don’t want a heart attack from sitting in 48 degree heat on a train. I’m really stressed out!

If it were a red warning around severe wind or rain or flooding they wouldn’t be telling everyone to come in! So why is heat seen differently?

If you can wfh then simple logic is insist you work from home, otherwise call in sick if you’re boss won’t allow it.
Try being a nurse/doctor/domestic/porter. I work for the NHS in a building with no air con, as do many others. There are no provisions for us, no pub drinks, not even a cold water dispenser other than a luke warm tap. We visit the vulnerable in the community in a car with no air con. I work 12.5 hr days and I am working on Thursday. Son’s nursery had also decided to close. It’ll be lots of fun for me and my colleagues!

That sounds bloody awful. Please pack lots of water: hope the day passes quickly

People complaining that their work doesn’t provide iced water…
Just half fill water bottles and leave in freezer overnight and take to work in a cool bag.
Not rocket science /how do people exist with so little initiarive, and expecting everything to be done for them?

31°C here and business as usual so far. I'm thankful to be sat in a van in the shade even if the air con doesn't work.

My builders are grafting away as usual today. I have given them access to a freezer though, where they're icing drinks. And I've bought them a bag of ice and ice lollies! Mind you we are in West Cornwall, which I know full well isn't as hot as London, and never will be, and they can all travel home in vehicles with a/c

This will probably happen. The train operators / unions won't think twice about cancelling services. Adults will stay at home or drive in. The kids however will be expected to walk, cycle or bus into school. The council (who will be working from home) will fine the parents if they don't!

France lost 15k people last time this happened. They don't want that to happen again.

As has been explained elsewhere on MN, the overhead power lines can sag, the ground underneath the lines can contract and the tracks can expand and disrupt the sensors that keep trains running a safe distance apart.
Would you want to travel on a train that isn't running a safe distance from other trains?

I've been around for decades. As a child I remember about the train issues they can only expand so much. Does anyone really want to risk a derailment so they can get around?

France 40 published deaths already

"Live: Forty drown in heatwave-attributed deaths in France" https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0623/1579902-europe-heatwave/

The heat on the tracks also causes points failures (so the moveable parts of the tracks don’t move properly) which means some routes physically aren’t possible anymore as the train can’t switch over onto the new track

From the guardian just now:
"Temperatures could soar to 45C by 2056, scientists say
50 years after the summer heatwave of 1976 (see earlier post), scientists in the UK’s Met Office have developed what they call a “plausible 2056 scenario,” which forecasts the impact of similar heat events on the future.
Based on 2.5C of global heating, temperatures in England could hit 45C, while Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would face 41C, 38C and 30C respectively.
In that scenario, a prolonged heatwave could continue across a fortnight, including nine days in a row where temperatures would be above 40C."

I'll be 82 by then. If nothing else has killed me by then, I think 9 days in a row of 40-45C will.

If secondary schools shut we’ll have the same
spate of drowning and other injuries that we hadwhen they shut in Covid and teenage boys jumping off bridges her into the river.
Not to mention numerous callouts to the RNLI who have to wear heavy hot PPE in their callouts

Temperatures could soar to 45C by 2056, scientists say

And no doubt the usual suspects will still be saying ‘stop being so dramatic, it’s just summer!’ as crops fail and infrastructure breaks down. 🙄

It's now 33C here. It's actually fairly pleasant in the shade with a nice breeze. If I could swap my thick trousers for something lighter I'd happily sit in the garden with a G&T. I think it'll be a bit much if it approaches 40 though.

If i were wrong i'd be happy to admit it.
But you seem wilful in misunderstanding the difference between physiology/medicine and health at a population level.

The person that I responded to asserted that the MSc's at the met office knew more about the effects on people than the poster they were replying to because they built clever models. An invalid appeal to authority.

I have pointed out that they model weather, not the impact on people. I'm talking Met Office not UKHSA.

To which I was given the bio of a person who apparently rebutted that.

I have highlighted why that rebuttal doesn't hold water.

You now seem to misunderstand where her skills lay so...

founding the National Public Health Surveillance System

Do you understand this is nothing to do with Health per se? It is a data gathering function. It reports, not researches nor predicts.

She leads cross-disciplinary teams of scientists, <and other management or weather related functions>...

Do you understand that there are many different categories of scientists - from those studying giant viruses to those building rockets. The ones at the Met Office are not medical practitioners or experts (and nor should they be)

Do you also understand what leading means? Because it doesn't imply any skills in the areas you lead, just a management capability and direction setting.

Almost all of the schools around here are closed on Wednesday and Thursday.

Thems the breaks. I argue with friends on the boats about the eejits. But we're talking about storms re the rnli not tombstoning which I remember 60 years ago and yes kids died jumping off bridges then .

Actual lol 😂 Waterloo and the City do not exactly represent the outer reaches of London 😂 try walking from Barnet or Enfield or Tooting…

Lots of schools are closing round here too!

The tube is not the same or cooler, it is hotter than the sun! If you haven’t been on a tube in a heatwave, you shouldn’t comment on the temperature

I cycled into work this morning (London). The ride in was ok apart from loads of idiots on Lime Bikes. I'm not looking forward to the ride home (uphill) and am going to leave early to avoid the worse of the heat and all the Lime Bike idiots going home. In the meantime, I've had to find a hoodie from my locker as the aircon is so cold! (meanwhile my secondary age kids are all at home alone....)

Trains in my area were disrupted this morning because of points failure - I'm guessing because of the heat. In addition, a fire underneath a platform at London Bridge (where rubbish gets in) is probably also due to the heat - that caused more delays..

Why are you putting down people cycling on lime bikes? Can only people who have been cycling for 20 years and have their own bike be 'proper' cyclists?

If more people who have never cycled are encouraged to cycle isn't this a good thing?
Surely this is one of our ways out of climate disater?

Why be so judgemental about people trying to do the right thing?

Curly Wurlys made me smile!

I have just been pleasantly surprised. Took the tube between hospital sites and it was fine. The platform at Camden had a lovely breeze. The secondary school I walked past had kids playing table tennis and laughing. It seemed to be business as usual with tourists etc around.

The rush hour will probably be a different story.

Everyone was at work at the hospital which was good news for patients.