To think people don’t seem to understand how hot it is predicted to be next week?

[Toohot22]

On threads expressing concern re the heat, people keep saying ‘what do you think they do in hotter countries’?

According to my BBC weather app, next Monday and Tuesdays predictions are:

35 in Lahore, Pakistan
32/33 degrees in Miami, Florida
33 and 32 degrees in Kingston, Jamaica
29 degrees in Mali (which is the worlds hottest country, apparently!)
30 in the Maldives
38 and 35 in Spain.

The current predictions for me are 36 and 37 degrees.

AIBU to think some posters don’t realise we are talking about temperatures hotter than some of the hottest countries in the world!?

Hopefully when the warnings are issued, the schools will understand and will cancel the sports day! Imagine it.

i can’t manage in the heat, I was in turkey once during a heatwave and the nail varnish was melting down my hands. It was high 40’s and I stayed inside but still got very sick.

Haha🤦🏻 Abington then 😂

Depends where in Spain it is a big country. Seville recorded a temperature of 49 degrees C yesterday, now Seville is a hot area of Spain but not usually that hot.

The area of Spain my relatives live in had extreme temperatures in May, no normal Spring gradual lead up, it went very hot, very quickly with high humidity. Their outdoor, unheated swimming pool had a water temperature of 31degrees C by the second week of May a water temperature not normally recorded in their pool until mid-July.

The heat has been relentless and well above average where they are for months, and no, not everywhere is air conditioned and those houses that are are finding the cost of running the air conditioning horrendous. People are coping with it, they have no choice the UK, and not all the UK, is only predicted to have a few days of such extreme heat.

@3luckystars

What do you mean you got sick and nail varnish melted??

Forecast is for 39 where I am on Monday. The response from some people is to panic unnecessarily, which isn't helpful. Others act as if there is no need to do anything differently, which also isn't helpful. 39 degrees is a lot hotter than most people in the UK are used to, so sensible precautions do need to be taken. At the same time, it's important to remember that millions of people around the world cope with these temperatures quote regularly, so the world isn't going to stop turning. And no, they don't all have air conditioning.🙄

I think we just need to be sensible. We don't have AC in the office, so I have told my staff that they can all work from home if they prefer. I've also said that they can adjust their working hours in order to avoid the hottest part of the day, and I'll be sending out some guidance later on keeping cool and staying well in the heat.

I've had to ask my 17yo daughter to change her plans a couple of times in order to be safe. They had been planning a home through the open countryside, which has obviously had to be abandoned. She got the point pretty quickly that hiking uphill without any shade would be a bad idea, but plan B was to go for a shorter walk in the late afternoon. They apparently thought that noon would be the hottest part of the day and that things would have cooled down a bit by 4ish. I have had to explain that this isn't the case because heat tends to build up through the afternoon, and 4pm will almost certainly be hotter than lunchtime. It's the ignorance of this kind of stuff in the UK that tends to get people into trouble!

I have had to explain repeatedly to my elderly parents that keeping their windows open on hot days makes it worse, not better. They don't seem to believe me. Again, it's this kind of lack of awareness that makes the situation so much worse.

With climate change threatening to make the weather hotter and hotter, we need to educate people better on how to deal with the heat. What to wear, what to eat and drink, how to keep our houses cool, how to stay cool at night, when to go out and do stuff and when to stay at home etc. There is no point in catastrophising about it or even in the endless whingeing. The heat is here to stay and - rather like covid! - we need to learn to live with it.

Only time I dealt with such heat was an August holiday to the Middle East back in 2005.

Above 45C. Problems included ground being too hot to touch, not being able to breathe properly outside, had to seek air conditioned places.

We have no air conditioning. Not sure I'm going to do except block the day off to sweat and concentrate on breathing.

No one has ever denied the climate changes.

BBC forecast for London, where I am, is now 40 for Monday, and it’s a red warning for many parts of the country. I think that’s very different from 35, it’s unprecedented I think and I now think schools will close.

Why will schools close?

@ihavenocats

It's the breathing that I'm most panicking about and people lighting bonfires.

Why are they not banned and BBQ over these two day's only??

I once worked in an office where we were sent home when it hit 40. It was awful..

Where I’m from temperatures regularly hit the high 30s in summer. So I think some of the panic is a bit OTT, but then the UK isn’t particularly well set up for hot weather. No shutters on the windows, very few open air pools and swimming lakes to cool down in, little effort to create shade where it’s needed in public spaces etc. We were often sent home from school at around 10.30am because of the heat. Luckily my kids’ school has decided to also cut the school days short on Monday and Tuesday (we’re near London).

I think the UK just needs to adjust I’m afraid!

What do you think it means?

The words "sick" and "melting" are in fairly common usage.

Yes, the not well set up is the key part here.

I do think as this unfortunately gets more common, we will do better at adjusting to it because of familiarity, but there's a long way to go yet.

i just remembered… On really hot days my mum would give us a huge bowl of ice cream for lunch instead of proper food. Questionable, but we loved it!

I’m one of those people who runs cold like a lizard - my ideal temp is 26-27. 39 is horrible though! I’m planning to spend Tuesday in my airconned office and then maybe a trip to the snowdome 😜

Something a PP said earlier about kids wearing shorts in winter - I immigrated from Eastern Europe as a child and remember my mum being HORRIFIED that kids were going to school in 5 degrees without tights or coats. She thought they were crazy! Where I come from kids are wrapped up in hats/gloves/scarf/puffer as soon as it’s September or gets below 15 degrees.

Also, great sleeping tip - instead of a duvet or nothing, use a wet towel or sheet. It’s really nice and makes it a normal temp for your body to sleep in.

Where I am it is 32C on Sunday, 39C on Monday and 40C on Tuesday. On Monday night it won't get below 21C.

It's not just one day of over 30C. Perhaps try reading some of the news coverage about it or even the weather warning that has been issued...

Red warning of extreme heat
Starts: 00:00 BST on Mon 18 JulyEnds: 23:59 BST on Tue 19 July
An exceptional hot spell on Monday and Tuesday leading to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure.

• Population-wide adverse health effects experienced, not limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat, leading to serious illness or danger to life. Government advice is that 999 services should be used in emergencies only; seek advice from 111 if you need non-emergency health advice.
• Substantial changes in working practices and daily routines will be required
• High risk of failure of heat-sensitive systems and equipment, potentially leading to localised loss of power and other essential services, such as water or mobile phone services
• Significantly more people visiting coastal areas, lakes and rivers, leading to an increased risk of water safety incidents
• Delays on roads and road closures, along with delays and cancellations to rail and air travel, with significant welfare issues for those who experience even moderate delays

Issued at: 10:28 BST on Fri 15 July

I completely see where she's coming from! Bet she couldn't be arsed to prepare anything in the heat!

Quite a number of European countries experience both very cold winters and very hot summers, so the notion that UK homes are designed just to deal with cold weather seems a bit odd. In this country, no one appears to be well prepared for any kind of weather though. It has become somewhat of a running joke. I recount many summers going into the mid thirties in July and August. People keep their shutters and curtains drawn during day time etc

I've only had it that one time so know it's a thing, otherwise I wouldn't think of it. But I literally could not breathe out there, like I couldn't take in breath, like the air was..... hard or something.

I think the police won't be able to patrol and make yobs put out fires so what's the point in a ban?

I think we'll just have to get a fan and block out the days from work and stay home and hold up here?

Sorry I was rushing when I posted. The weather was so hot when I was in Turkey that the nail varnish wouldn’t stay on my hand, it just slid off, the bread was turning into toast on the table, it was like being in an oven! I got very sick from being in the heat. it was like sun stroke even though I wasn’t even outside in the sun.

Sorry if I worded that badly. I hope you will all be ok in the high heat, I imagine lots of people will be sleeping outside on their trampolines again like they had to a few years ago in the heatwave.

Is there a thread where people are sharing tips on how to cope. We could learn from people here who have experienced really hot temperatures in the past.

There's roughly 50 threads about this 2 day heatwave. Loads of tips scattered throughout them all.

I’m meant to be at an outdoor concert Mon from about 5pm. No shade, chairs or umbrellas allowed and only 1 litre of water which you can refill. Temp predicted to be 29/30 !