To think it can't be that hot?

[Hop27]

I live in the tropics, we have long periods of hot weather. It's winter with us and it's 24 degrees. I'm in bed at the moment with long PJ's on. (At home sick) and will probably spend the day in leggings and a hoodie. Browsing through mumsnet, thread upon thread about how it's too hot to eat, to sleep, people canceling plans because of the heat! Even in the height of our summer (mid to high 30's) I don't think I've ever not made dinner or cancelled plans. AIBU to think it can't be that hot, or have I been away from the British summer for too long?

😔 that sounds awful, I hope you feel better soon

I have heat exhaustion today. I feel absolutely rotten. We closed our windows and blinds and I only went outside to hang clothes up the last couple days. I slept shivering, whilst knowing I was too hot 🤷‍♀️ It didn’t cool down over night so I got no respite from the heat. I stopped working because I’m a dog groomer with no air con so it’s not like I even tried to push through. London and many other parts of the UK caught fire, train tracks on fire and roads are literally melting. How much more evidence do you need to understand that the UK isn’t built for this heat?

London and many other parts of the UK caught fire, train tracks on fire and roads are literally melting. How much more evidence do you need to understand that the UK isn’t built for this heat?

Those things do happen in other countries when it's hot - it's just that you don't hear about them

It's news in the UK because it hasn't happened since the late 20th century.

They then ensured the infrastructure they slowly replaced it with could cope with temperatures from -2 to 35 degrees. (In England).

The government thought based on climate scientist predictions they had until 2050 before the UK would hit temperatures of over 40 degrees.

Oh and many places in Europe are suffering from the affects of climate change. While they are use to hotter temperatures generally having a summer maximum temperature go up by over 1 degrees Celsius is alarming.

It's news in the UK because it hasn't happened since the late 20th century.

I meant these things happen every summer in some other countries, but you don't hear about it on the news in the UK. I have seen items on our national news about the UK's hot weather for about a week. Here we've had gale force winds and flooding - I bet you've never heard anything about that on your news. Our tar on the roads melts most years, we have drought conditions often, we have fires - but the UK seems to think they are special and these things don't happen in other places.

Also, it's not just Europe suffering the effects of climate change.

What has "high 20s" during Covid lockdowns got to do with what we had earlier this week?

It didn't drop below 25.9C overnight on Monday at the closest official weather station to where I live (new UK record for overnight temperature) and it was widely about 23C minimum across the country.

And 40C daytime temperature is massively different to 30C. I say this as someone who's previously spent many months living and working in the Middle East and Asia where these temperatures are more normal.

I meant these things happen every summer in some other countries, but you don't hear about it on the news in the UK

Yes we do, certainly the events which are more extreme for those countries. We've heard about wildfires in France and Croatia last week on the news, for instance. We heard about the extreme heat in Canada last year. We hear about Australian and American droughts and fires pretty regularly.

Here we've had gale force winds and flooding - I bet you've never heard anything about that on your news

If you're taking about Australia then yes it was, as were the floods a short while ago

I meant these things happen every summer in some other countries, but you don't hear about it on the news in the UK

Well yeah? If it happened every summer here it wouldn’t even be on our own news. It’s because it has never happened before here that it’s been big news.

Yes we do.

It helps that one of our main broadcasters happens to broadcast worldwide and so broadcasts worldwide news. While they collaborate with other media outlets to get some stories, they also have journalists working in other countries directly for them.

London and many other parts of the UK caught fire, train tracks on fire and roads are literally melting. How much more evidence do you need to understand that the UK isn’t built for this heat?

My original comment, if anyone actually bothered to read it, was in response to the above post, and saying that the things like melting tar, summer fires, etc. happen in other countries which are not "hot" countries. The UK is not "special" in that it is not built for extreme heat, and yet other countries seem to be able to deal with it without the panic and exaggeration. I can remember many years ago it being hot in the UK and people aghast at the tar melting on the roads then, so it's not something new.

Every country at some stage has a hottest/coldest/windiest etc. day at some stage, but most of us just deal with it. I don't understand why the UK can't. The hottest day we ever had here was in 1973 and I don't recall anything like the level of drama there has been on MN - in fact I don't recall any drama at all. We've had temps almost as hot in recent years and apart from a bit of common sense advice being given it was just business as usual, even though it was 10 degrees warmer than a normal hot day.

If you're taking about Australia then yes it was, as were the floods a short while ago

I'm not in Australia and I'm not talking about an extreme event. A couple of hot days in the UK is hardly an exteme event either, yet we have been constantly hearing about it here .

@onlythreenow why don't you just say where you are so everyone can pick your story apart?

Why are the wildfires in Portugal on the news? I’ve seen that before. Why are the wildfires in France on the news? Seen it. Boring. Floods? Pah. Next time Australia goes up in smoke I’ll be sure to dismiss that as not newsworthy.

Extreme weather events are news. You might not think that temperatures that have never been reached before in this country count as extreme. It might not be an extreme temperature for where you live but it is for here, we’ve literally never had it before.

Broadcasters disagree with you. Beyond the headline 40 degrees for England, Newcastle where I live got to 37. Previous record for Newcastle was 32. The highest ever temperature increasing by 5 degrees in one go is a big deal. It speaks to the wider story about climate change too - the news you’re being shown is not “look these people are a bit too hot”, it’s “we’re seeing temperatures we’ve never seen before in parts of the world we’ve never seen them, what does this indicate about the state of climate change in the world as a whole”.

I'm not in Australia and I'm not talking about an extreme event. A couple of hot days in the UK is hardly an exteme event either, yet we have been constantly hearing about it here .

Weather events worldwide are big news at the moment because of the trend they suggest and the suggested link to climate change.

Govt messaging wasn't panicked, TV talking heads who've got fuck all better to be doing at 10am were a bit and by the time that filtered down to some already anxious sun haters a semblance of "panic" ensued