To think we are pathetic in the UK re weather?

[Usery]

Whether it's too hot (it's going to be 40° on Monday don't you know🙄) or too cold or snow or wind etc...

AIBU to think we are a bit pathetic in the UK and a bunch of over reactors when it comes to any sort of "extreme" weather.

I agree with OP.

This sort of weather hysteria used to be tabloid fodder. Now it’s mainstream.

Yes, a day or two of 40 degree heat is unusual in the UK and we should be worried about and talking about climate change.

Yes, we may have to adjust our lives for a few days, especially to protect vulnerable people.

But there are threads on here by healthy, young adults whining about going to work or suggesting we keep children home from school and generally catastrophising and promoting panic.

Its also a fallacy that everywhere else in the world where the weather gets hot everyone is living in cool, air conditioned homes and having long lazy Siestas. That’s not the reality and shows a very privileged and blinkered view of the reality of many, many peoples lives globally.

For fuck sake, we have just come through a pandemic. Why are people being so feeble about this? If you really can’t deal with it, call in sick and sit in a cool bath all day.
And if you’re vulnerable or have friends or relatives who are, take sensible precautions and look after your loved ones . Whinging on MN does nothing.

YANBU. Just get on with it and stop moaning! No one cares if you’re hot.

What infrastructure ffs

I am a bit worried about school kids though. Thankfully both mine have broken up already but their school is lovely and modern and all glass with windows that have restricted opening..... I am guessing there are plenty of schools that are similar and cannot imagine what it will be like for the teachers and students.

I recall doing Year 10 at my school in a portacabin. We had a school rule that once it hit 42 degrees the school would shut. It was 40-ish once and we had to try and remain in this damned portacabin. Finally our english teacher just mutinied and took us outside.

Same. I used to park lower down on a street so I could get off. The street one of these colleagues lived on was flat and clear.

If it’s lovely and modern it will have been built with the right insulation and ventilation.

So much over privileged navel gazing here.

We
Don't have the infrastructure to deal with extremes of weather, in either direction. That's why

I am not sure what type of infrastructure is needed.

I am a bit worried about school kids though.

It's not pleasant. However, the people generally at risk aren't children. Not one child died in last year's extreme heat events in North America. Older, alone, pre-existing conditions.

As an example, the railway rails here aren’t designed to withstand such high temps so buckle in the high heat, leading to huge delays to trains

We also don’t have hospitals and schools correctly set up to deal with it

Every country including the UK can cope with their normal, normal heat, cold, normal rain, normal snow, normal heat.

Every country struggles with their extremes, extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme rain, extreme snow, extreme cold.

Our houses are designed to keep us warm, carpets, insulation, central heating, double glazing.

No point in comparing the UK to Spain or anywhere else we struggle with their normal heat, they'd struggle with our normal -3 or 4 frost and ice.

. Where is the hysteria?

People are wondering how to manage an event which will cause deaths across our population. That's eminently sensible. It's normal and human to worry about an unprecedented and risky, unavoidable situation.

People aren't being pathetic, they're largely being proactive whilst genuinely worried about those around them who might suffer. The notion that they're hysterical and pathetic is your interpretation and says an awful lot about you

I think people in the UK think they should be immune to the kind of natural disasters that kill people on a regular basis worldwide. And the pandemic and then this heatwave came as a bit of a shock. At least the UK got to enjoy the benefits that came with the development, unlike many of the countries already bearing the brunt of climate change.

Stop banging on about it only being 2 days. Two days of extreme weather! It's dangerous! There are people in poverty in the Uk, people without access to safe water, people without the capacity to keep themselves safe, people with illnesses that will severely affected by the high temperatures. Those people could be dead within those two days. So they not matter just because 'it's only 2 days'?

Excellent post. Doesn't look like other posters on here have taken blind but if interest though sadly.

Many areas of Spain are used to -3 or -4 …. I’d say most of Spain is used to it in winter (apart from andalucia and Valencia). Where I’m from it snows much more than in the uk

There seems to be a correlation between people who think worrying about the heat is pathetic and those who hold other 'interesting' views.🤔

For those wondering what ‘infrastructure’ is being referred to, this ^^

it doesn’t require panic but it does deserve a modicum of respect for the situation.

I don’t panic when my dd and I are in the sea but I do treat the water with respect.

I think MN contains loads of over-reactors, who see a couple of sensible threads in Weather about an impending RED weather warning and sensible precautions, and who then rush to start threads deploring the non-existent 'panic'

There are about three a day threads of this kind, and I'm beginning to think they are being done with the aim of making MN and MNers look silly. It's as if they cannot bear places where well-informed women actually talk to each their and share their expertise.

Anything above 30 is very hot for us , 40 is extremely hot . But will it get to 40 ? It’s 35 for north west . It’s not the first time we’ve had 30 + temperatures so I don’t get the fuss . It could get to 40 oh well then we definitely all die then !!.
I mean literally what can we do ? I’d rather stay in my air con office anyway . Some people don’t have that luxury. I’d hope employers give extra breaks and provide cold drinks but I’ve worked for some heartless bastards who would give no shits . I know someone who worked in a office with no air con but the board room does and management sit in there when it’s hot while the poor workers sweat away .

Yeah maybe you should work on that! I'm waiting for you to be one of those - I say it as it - type people!

Normally I agree but 35+ is considered toouch even where I grew up so I am now just nodding rather than eye rolling. 27 gets eyerolls.

Tbf it is heavy heat here so it feels like it's warmer than it actually is, but yes. Usually all the moaning is 🙄. -5 is nofmal winter, 26 is normal summer.

During the 1976 heatwave, excess deaths reached 30% in London, and averaged 20% UK wide.
Monday is predicted to be hotter than the 1976 maximum. THAT is why the authorities are worried, and are issuing sensible advice and warnings to the public.

In terms of snow/cold, it depends what part of UK you are from. I'm from the North and we just get on with it when it snows. There has to be a good few inches on the ground before school and workplaces shut. But some places in the South, they seem to panic over a light dusting.

Heat is a bit more complicated in terms of things like schools. Yes, hotter countries manage to deal with it just fine, but often schools start earlier in the morning, and are built in a way to keep everyone cool. It England, they are built in a way to keep everyone warm. Which is great, for 3/4 of the school year. For the other 1/4, we bake. Plus we have a lot of fair skinned kids, and in general British kids are not acclimatised to that level of heat. Not when we only experience them for a couple of months a year at most. I have dealt with so many kids with heatstroke/sunburn (high school students) and it isn't fair. I'm not saying that schools should close in hot weather but something needs to be done to improve conditions during heatwaves

You’re being a dickhead, op.

Yabu to keep using words such as pathetic and embarrassing. There are plenty of reasons why people will struggle massively in this heat that have been highlighted clearly on this thread yet you still keep using derogatory terms as if you are somehow sooooo above it.

I agree the constant news coverage is a bit much but sometimes people need the risks spelling out to them. It's extremely adverse weather and if there's a threat to life then it's not really something to be sniffed at.