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.

It's because we generally have moderate temperatures in this country - not insanely cold during the winter and not ridiculously hot in the summer. When it does happen neither the people nor the infrastructure can hope. I think it's OK to panic about temperatures in the 40s. Even in places like India people will die in these temperatures. My husband is a climate scientist who looks at weather extremes. It's estimated 2000 people will die in the UK this year because of hot weather. Calling people pathetic isn't really fair.

We aren't pathetic about it, we're just not accustomed to it. I will probably wfh if I can, on Monday and Tuesday. I was planning to go to work but the train company have warned only travel if absolutely necessary. A few years ago there were temps in the 30s and there were problems with the trains overhead powerlines and I spent a miserable 3 hour journey home that should have been 45 min. That's not me being pathetic, its trying to avoid an unpleasant situation.
Houses are not built for temperatures of 30C° + because the vast majority of British weather is not that temperature (and a lot of houses were built before climate change was ever heard of)

I remember the summer of 2003 because my dd was newborn. It was so hot, it seemed to go on for weeks as well.

The warnings here in Ireland are ratcheted up another two or three levels. It's reminding me of some teenage post apocalyptic series.

I'll just be going to work, in my jeans.

ps, i know that we're lucky here in Ireland for this, I'm on the east coast so if it's forty in London it'll be 30 here. But still, the WARNINGS!

@darkdaysareover "Let me guess, Dubai or similar ? The local kids will not have air con schools , just the ex pats and the wealthy who can afford private schools. I also grew up in a hot country and we had neither. No pools or air con , at home or in the school. Your experience is not one I’m familiar with. We walked to school and it was horribly hot but we did all survive "

No, not Dubai or similar and no expat community. In fact the locals were much better off than we were as most of their homes had pools and they used golf buggies to walk a few yards rather than walk in the heat. We had neither but thankfully lived next door to the community pool.

It's pathetic with talk of schools being closed.

My thoughts were opposite. I suspect a correlation between the heatwave doom mongers and the covid doom mongers. Always got to be something to panic about!

1976
five days saw temperatures exceed 35 °C (95 °F). On 28 June, temperatures reached 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) in Southampton, the highest June temperature recorded in the UK. The hottest day of all was 3 July, with temperatures reaching 35.9 °C (96.6 °F) in Cheltenham.

Ok, not the predicted 39 degrees for Monday, but this was consistent heat all through summer

And had MN and the internet been about then the chat would be exactly the same as we are saying now.

Must have been re-reading your own posts. Agree they are rather embarrassing, particularly how you equate people being (rightly) concerned for their fellow humans with mass hysteria. Smugly mocking others, now that is pathetic.

The red heat warning doesn't mean PANIC IN THE STREETS, it's a serious warning that you ought to take certain precautions and to factor it in to risk assessments. So some things you might have planned should be postponed or cancelled. Apparently there are still some loons who are holding school sports days and DoE hikes. The red warning isn't telling them to hole up in a wartime bunker with six months of provisions and a wind-up radio, it's telling them not to go ahead in these conditions because that would be absolute madness.

We have to moan about everything, it's becoming a national sport. Head to the beach for the weekend!

This is a very bad tempered thread!

I grew up in a few different very hot countries with no air con. My mother is a don at keeping houses cool. It's definitely a way of living that's different to what we're used to but it's doable.

My son has had his DoE trek cancelled which I think is appropriate.

I'm a bit eye roll I suppose, since many many people live in these temperatures but there are always the usual idiots in the UK who are out doing stupid stuff. " Mad dogs and englishmen etc..."

Vulnerable people obviously need protecting. I feel sorry for people working and living in care homes. Already debilitated by the last few years.

I think the trouble is some people won't be sensible and will be sitting out in the sun all day which is obviously going to cause heatstroke etc and then more pressure on NHS. We are just going to have to take it easy for a few days, stay inside/in the shade where you can, drink plenty of fluids, ensure pets have a shaded place to rest and are kept hydrated.

The clamour to close schools had just grown and grown really, from snow days to covid and and now to it being hot. I agree with reconsidering certain school trips as if it involves being in the sun all day it obviously isn't going to be a good idea, hot all day and then in a hot bus spells trouble. But they should be fine at school, would be very similar to being at home in my opinion. Ours have emailed to say pe kit can be worn Mon and Tues and obvs they will be careful to ensure kids don't over do things and ensure they keep hydrated, stay I shade etc. I think some people just want schools closed so they have an excuse not to go to work as can claim childcare issues.

A lot of posts are along the lines of "pffft its just a bit of hot weather, we'll just take an extra water bottle and carry on regardless, after all other countries manage...."
And maybe that's why we're getting warnings because actually it isnt always the best option to carry on as normal in a lot of cases.
That maybe we might have to tweak our behaviour slightly in respect of the weather and in respect to the people who do have to keep going (emergency services etc)
Not the same thing but when people do not heed storm warnings and need to be rescued by coast guard/ life guards/lifeboats. By not heeding warnings and carrying on with things that have potential for danger/injury/illness, it puts pressure on those expected to deal with the situations.

According to Wikipedia there was a 20% increase in UK deaths that summer. When I lived in Paris there was a heatwave and health workers, the fire brigade and volunteers were visiting apartment buildings to check on the elderly and bring water. My colleague explained that it was because a few years earlier a lot of elderly people had died in a heatwave and the nation was embarrassed and outraged.

I've lived in hot countries and they do have better infrastructure for the heat. You also get used to it and for people living there it's a gradual increase. I lived in inland Australia for a year and worked outdoors from just before sunrise around 3.30am to 2pm (midday if it hit 40). When I first arrived sweat literally poured down my body within seconds of getting out of a cold shower. After a couple of weeks It wasn't so bad but it wasn't unusual for someone at work to have to go to hospital for heatstroke. The temperature fluctuated from 33 degrees to 40 degrees for most of summer with a few peaks up to 45 degrees. It went up gradually, ended in a storm then started again. Even for locals 38 degrees and above was tough. All of the houses were bungalows with double height ceilings and air conditioning so it was easy to escape the heat when you weren't working. Schools were also air conditioned with huge canopies stretching across the playgrounds for break time, hats with fabric to cover your neck were compulsory for primary aged children (and usually soaked before going outside) and industrial sized bottles of sunscreen were in every classroom. Pub gardens were shaded with misting systems that sprayed a cool mist over you. So many little things that make a big difference but don't seem worth investing in here.

Do you know what’s as bad as hysteria.

these pointless threads.

go and lay in the sun and enjoy.

go away.

Ps listen to the met and don’t bake it in for everyone else.

I am convinced that the people now posting about how pathetic people are being about the hot weather and how we should all "just get on with it" are the same people who threw around insults like "muzzles" and "face rags" a couple of years ago.

Personally I think it's sensible to prepare for extreme weather conditions and some of the suggestions have been very helpful. Why is that a problem for some?

3 years ago my daughter lived in a brand new 2nd floor/top floor flat. It was like a sauna in even the most moderate of summer days. It will be positively dangerous at 36 degrees.

I’d be interested to see a Venn diagram @knittingaddict. some people just really can’t take in information they don’t like without blowing it up into something else that makes it easier to dismiss. Whether it directly affects them or not.

Its harder to understand those who shout down those who are affected by going on about how they’re not bothered and unaffected. It’s weird. just go and do whatever it is that you claim to be enjoying surely?

It's always the same when weather warnings get issued

"It's only a bit of wind"
"It's only a bit of snow"
"It's only a bit of flooding"
"It's only the highest recorded temperature in the UK's history".

Maybe you are lucky that extreme weather doesn't impact you, but for other people it really, really does. If you are sick of hearing about it then turn the TV off and don't click on internet stories/threads discussing it.

Pretty simple, really.

Most homes especially old in this country are made of brick and stone, during the day they absorb heat throught the day and release heat during the night, making them warmer inside than out. We build and insulate them to retain heat.

Carpets and thick furnishings, heavy furniture also retain heat and release it. We are not built or designed for heat.

Hot countries usually have inbuilt air con, stone tiles floors inside , roof fans and layouts are open space, and not built to the standards of ours with stone and thick insulation.

Poor with our just suffer or die, but they are just a number and unreported, how many people are up in arms and actually care about poor in 3rd word country's dieing every day? One child tragically dies in this country and hits the news everyone is up in arms, millions die in poor countries in far more horrific circumstances and every one says the UK is the worst place in the world or its disgusting. We live in a bubble a big self centered bubble.

"Go and lay in the sun"?

FFS that would be really, really unwise in 40 degrees.

Have you never heard of sunburn/sunstroke?

Have you any idea just how hot 40 degrees is?

It is 41 degrees where I am today (not in the UK). Nobody in their right minds will be going to lay in the sun. But you crack on and tell us how it goes.