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!?

Keeping the curtains closed and not having the windows and doors wide open will mean your house will be cooler inside than it is outside.

Correct.

It’s extraordinary how many British people seem incapable of understanding this. It’s basic physics. When it’s hot outside close the windows to keep the hot air out and close the curtains to keep your rooms shaded and stop the sun turning your house into a greenhouse.

I just can't agree with that but that's fine, people are different!

I cannot go about my normal daily life in 37 degree heat and absolutely nothing about it is enjoyable.

On holiday, on the beach for a bit followed by a swim in the sea followed by a shower in my air conditioned hotel room...completely different story!

Oh for goodness sake.

People do not cope in heat in excess of 35+. People include the old and vulnerable.
in the 2003 heatwave in Europe an excess death was estimated of 72,000 people in those few weeks. These occurred in the typically the hotter regions of Europe that were used to dealing with hot summers.
here is link
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

if you look at temperatures in 2003 across Europe you’ll see most in high30s and a few areas tipping just over 40 degrees. Some places were lower than that yet still death tolls were excessive

as I said on other thread, according to a lot of people on these threads it doesn’t matter. Just like covid. We can let the bodies of the old and vulnerable “stack high” as long as you are all right.

Don’t kid yourselves that becuase you can cope everyone else is whinging. Once temperatures get above mid 30s people will die. You probably won’t see them..they’re the ones in nursing homes, hospitals etc. That is why the country and NHS has been alerted. Not for stupid people on here who think that because they don’t mind a bit of sun or “people in hot countries manage” it is no big deal.

We’ve been house swapping this last bit in a relative’s house that is basically built like a greenhouse. First thing I did when we arrived was determine which room the DC would be in and keep the curtains shut 24 hours a day. This had a bit of an impact but not enough so on the 3rd day or so I hung up everything I could - woollen blankets etc over the curtains to keep the room actually dark at all times. The room is now honestly about 10oC cooler than the rest of the house and quite pleasant to sleep in.
I think sometimes thin curtains aren’t enough but any extra layers you can add make everything so much better.

We had thick pile carpets in the bedrooms in my last house in Australia. Wooden floor in the kitchen/living area. No shutters. Did have a verandah in front of the living area but not the front bedroom. Lockable screen doors so we could sleep with doors open (but not security screens, it wouldn't have been very difficult to break in). In a heatwave we sometimes slept out in the tent as the house wouldn't cool down.

No their bodies are not physiologically different but they do get used to the weather where they live - my friend is from Punjab, she was shivering in a sweater in 16 degree heat while I was perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt. You see it the other way round on holiday too, the locals will often be wearing thicker fabrics or more layers in their cooler seasons while tourists can be seen sweating in summer clothes.

This is why nothing will ever get done on climate change. What’s ‘normal’ gets incrementally worse and is still called normal.

Well I still have to go to work, to work in an unaired conditioned office.
We can’t close. Just tough I guess.

We are not thick op , I understand what 37 degrees means and I wish it would last all summer.

It can reach 50 degrees throughout the region where I live but we have air conditioning so we’re set up for it and if I was to be in the Uk with the current temperature and no AC I’d not be very happy.

The real danger is that unless the climate emergency is dealt with quickly we will be experiencing a lot more of this weather. Bad news for crops and draughts galore.

It occasionally reached 50 where I lived too (thankfully not often).
I can't help but think the posters wishing it would be in the high 30s more often are envisaging it during a weekend/time off work. I struggled, having been born there, in high temps with air con and buildings built to let heat escape. Working in these upcoming temperatures will be absolutely hellish for a lot of people, especially if they're taking public transport or a car without air con to work.

There are 70 million people in the UK and some of them will die on Monday and Tuesday due to the temperatures we will see on those two days.

It isn;t only about you.

The UK would be in really bad shape if it did - no crops, no water, high deaths etc.

Why would you want that? You may have to consider whether you are actually a little bit thick if you think it would be a good thing for the UK to have such a distorted climate.

Their buildings are designed for hot weather. I can't sleep on my roof - it is pitched.

If that’s a serious question, have a look at the skin colour of people whose recent ancestors are from near the equator and those from high latitudes.

And many more will die in the winter months - the same season many MNetters love for the hot chocolate and snuggles under duvets. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about the weather for these few days next week.

Isn't it something to do with blood being "thinner" or some such in hot countries?

As for climate change, every time someone says "we have aircon", a little part of me dies - the heat those things chuck out into the atmosphere is terrifying (although I'm being a total hypocrite as I do benefit from having it at work).

As some have finally mentioned towards the end of the thread-so-far, humidity is a big factor to consider in hot weather. From my experience (grew up in Sydney where hot mostly = humid), high humidity makes a temperature around 30 feel the same as 10 degrees higher under very dry conditions. (and I recall one summer a week over 40 and dry that illustrated that very well, only a woman from Adelaide where it is generally dry heat correctly guessed the temperature).

For those who have tried the "close windows and curtains in the day and open in the night" and struggled, part of making this work is reasonably thick curtains, and part is noticing as soon as the outside temperature drops and opening up to cool the house down. If there's a breeze at that point it is of course far more effective. Close up the top of the house first, keep it closed and stay downstairs.

For those whose schools insist outdoor exertion is to continue, please escalate via the head, the governers, the local A&E or whatever seems reasonable. Some outdoor activity will be fine, but "hilly hikes" or sports days are a very bad idea if you are in the hottest parts of the predictions. By the way, I've checked our forecasts - we're SE but well inland - and Sunday Monday and Tuesday are ALL predicted above 30. :( there's a reason why I moved to the UK from Australia ....

In Australia, and I'm sure similarly in other countries with hot summers, athletics is done in the winter. We had a swimming carnival near the start of the year - ideally after the last heat waves of full summer that generally made the start of school miserable - and a sports carnival in the middle of the year. Mind you, Sydney weather is sufficiently unpredictable that I recall the calendar having two days scheduled for each to allow for postponement due to rain (drenching stuff not drizzle).

In hot weather, building sites need to start very early and then stop well before lunch.

I work in a nursery. We plan to get outside first thing with lots of water play then inside from mid morning, leaving them to dry off in the wet clothes to keep cool. might need a repeat of getting wet after lunch.

@dailymailwillrotyoursoul those issues do not happen in other developed countries , if it was the norm there would be little issue.
Maybe have a look at world temperatures and infrastructures before posting so ignorantly.

Eh? So you are saying black people don't get as hot in the sun? How does black skin keep you cool and protect people from extreme heat? It only offers more protection from UV as far as I can understand, not heat People from colder climates have paler skin due to lower levels of melanin which are not needed where exposure to UV is less.

I couldn't sleep on my roof in Australia either, sometimes slept in a tent in the backyard, could have on the front verandah I guess.

Too used to having weather predictions not happen, because our weather is notoriously hard to forecast.

However, every chart is level for this hot event, I am concerned.