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!?

We feel it more because usually by April/may it's starting to warm up and it has only just started to get warm. But it usually get's gradually warmer and we acclimatize to it. But this year it's been average of 8-15 then suddenly shot up.

Plus abroad it's less muggy. You can be out in it all day and it doesn't bother you. Other countries also have the benefit of air conditioning. The closest we get to air con is the freezer isle in Tesco.

The question was whether people’s physiology adapted to climate. It does, dark skin reduces vitamin D production per amount of sunlight falling on someone.

And yes, in the shade darker skin will be cooler than lighter skin. Probably not by enough to make a difference, but it’s more effective at radiating.

Maybe we worry because we never get chance to acclimatise to our weather , never a few weeks to get used to the heat (or the cold).
Simply a freezing cold day , wet day , then so hot and humid we can't cope , let alone choose the correct clothes to cope

I'm from uk and spent a couple of years in Australia at them temperatures on some occasions, especially in Northern Territory. I didn't die.

As long as people aren't scaremongering, keeping a sane mind and using common sense then we should be fine

I’ve been to Dubai in July and it was well over 40. It’s very hot, but manageable as they have air con. We will survive a few days though, it’s not weeks of it that hot

Schools had outdoor undercover areas, playgrounds had shade sails. However, many low budget rentals where I lived were sixties fibros (fibre board houses), built quickly and cheaply. So I think it was maybe just because it was cheap housing. It got to single digits inside in winter as well. DS's school had many demountable classrooms. Maybe to do with adapting to a growing population?

I do think they need to be playing short public information ads on TV/social media/radio with some of these tips, especially about keeping windows/curtains closed and moving less that are less commonly known,

Thank you. I'm beginning to think my curtains just aren't thick enough to keep the heat out. I'll experiment with hanging blankets or similar over them during the day tomorrow and see if that helps.

I use to live in ottawa and we regularly got hot weather in the summer ( surprisingly. )I lived in Texas as well and that’s even hotter . The difference is we have air conditioning everywhere! The U.K. is not built for the heat so yes it’s a big deal . Luckily it’s only for a few days 🥵

I find this sort of reply so odd - I do not think I will die. I do understand that many vulnerable people may die.

It isn't scaremongering to recognise that this heat is a negative thing, both in terms of how it will impact people on Monday/Tuesday and also because watching climate change accelerating is not good.

In 1976 we had 15 consecutive days of over 32 degree temperatures and 3 months without rain.

In the winters of 1962 and 1947 we had months of freezing weather when very few people had central heating. It was sold cold the birds froze to death in the trees.

I get that it's unpleasant and uncomfortable to have these extremes of hot and cold but ... yes, people really do need to get it in perspective and soldier on through it without ramping up their own anxiety and anxiety in everyone around them. Just accept some uncomfortable days and nights and be grateful for our generally temperate climate.

Doesn't the Met office heat warning cover most of the UK? In the E Mids where I am, we are predicted to have temps of 30c Sunday, rising to 37c Tuesday.

Not Australian but lived and worked there. No AC at home, in my car or most of my workplace, despite being a hospital 🔥(some bits, like the operating theatres did, but not all). It was a working class area, and most people could not afford proper AC at home, though lots did have a portable unit in the living room.

Where I lived, anyway, people got up really early to avoid the heat - the beach is full of runners at 5 am. They were also religious about hats and covering up in the sun. We rarely saw Australians with heat stroke, sunstroke or sun burn at the hospital - it was usually tourists.

Yep. On a selfish level, I also just really don’t enjoy heat. It makes me feel sweaty, itchy, tired, grumpy and faint. It’s already been really unpleasant over the last week until today, and next week is forecast to be far higher. People would think I was crazy if I was going around telling them to “make the most” of a cold snap, even though that’s the kind of weather I much prefer.

This is a classic head in the sand reply to a post about people having their heads in the sand

The whole bloody point is 'our generally temperate climate' is getting fucked up by climate change.

The calls for more air-conditioning and gushing praise for countries with huge amounts of air-conditioning are a little ironic / disturbing given the enormous impact air-conditioning has on the environment, and as a result, climate change.

There are plenty of ways to mitigate heat, long and short term, without using masses of electricity and pumping out damaging pollutants into the atmosphere.

First of all, it is not going to be that hot everywhere in the UK. I’m due to be working in the north of Scotland on Monday and Tuesday, where the forecast is 18C and cloudy.

Secondly, just because those are the forecasts you’ve seen for those other countries, that means nothing. Britain being hotter than Mali on one day is an anomaly. Sometimes that happens. And FYI it’s midwinter in Mali right now. Average summer temperatures in much of the Middle East - Saudi Arabia etc - are in the 40s.

Thirdly, having three or four days of temperatures in the 30s is perfectly manageable. If it was every day, we’d struggle. A couple of days is a blip.

Fourthly, we had a few days of temperatures of 35-38C in the south east in 2003. On the hottest of those days I watched two non-league football teams play a full 90 minutes, went for a walk and had a meal out, all of which was fine. Yes, it was insanely hot. But nothing closed or anything like that and nobody burst into flames.

Fifthly, most people do absolutely understand how hot it’s going to be, but are fully aware that there’s nothing they can do about it and therefore see no point in stirring up panic or constantly worrying about it. If you want to be alarmed, be alarmed. Just don’t expect everyone else to panic along with you.

Even Newcastle is forecast 32 on Tuesday. The warning stretches about as far north as Teesside, it covers most of England and Wales.

Yes, here in north west England we have 30 on Sunday, up to 34 on Tuesday…

We’re thinking of moving into our cellar for the duration.

I’m generally a ‘proud Brit’ in many ways but our overhyped and hysterical reaction to slightly unusual weather which is supposed to only last a day or two, be it snow, wind or heat really makes me want to hide and stick my head in my jumper like an embarrassed teen and deny my true heritage.
I lived in Germany for a few years, every summer it was well into the 30s. It’s not just countries on the equator that reach 30+. As pp have said, 34 degrees (in some places, mostly not) is not a national emergency, just use some common sense.

Not Australian but lived and worked there. No AC at home

We only turned it on when it was over 30 at night. It was too expensive to run all the time. Agree that getting up early is the key if you want to get anything strenuous done outside. They do the same in the warmer parts of the US in summer.

Where I lived, anyway, people got up really early to avoid the heat - the beach is full of runners at 5 am. They were also religious about hats and covering up in the sun. We rarely saw Australians with heat stroke, sunstroke or sun burn at the hospital - it was usually tourists.
Yes, we have fair skin so only went to the beach before 10 for a weekend walk or after school or evenings on hot summer days, not in the middle of the day. No hat, no play (sit on a bench in the shade) at school. Wide brimmed or legionnaire hat in primary. School polo shirt sleeves came down to the elbow, unisex style.

1976 was so deeply unpleasant and difficult to live through that people are still banging on about it now. Apart from 1976 and 2005, the other 8 hottest years on record have been in the last decade. That’s kind of the point - our “generally temperate” climate is becoming less so. I don’t have anxiety about the heat, but I’ll fucking well complain about it if I want to, because I’m completely fed up with being told to “enjoy it”, especially by climate change deniers who think it’s more important that they get to get a tan in their garden.

My dd is camping with school next week. It is predicted to be 36 on Tuesday. Complete radio silence from the school. I’ve bought dd a cooling towel and have to hope they have plenty of access to water.

And yes, in the shade darker skin will be cooler than lighter skin. Probably not by enough to make a difference, but it’s more effective at radiating

Dark colours absorb light and therefore heat, white reflects light and heat.

People in colder areas have evolved white skin to allow them to synthesise vitamin D, despite having less exposure to UV light from sunlight than people in Africa/Asia. It's not because white absorbs light!