To be terrified of the coming summer?

[screamingbanshees]

Last year there were 24,000+ heat-related deaths due to the heatwave, and the temperatures here were astronomical. It was the worst summer I've ever experienced, sweating constantly, sticking to every surface, always dehydrated, warm water coming out the cold tap, and sweating as soon as I stepped out of the bath. I also had a very unhappy, sweaty, screamy 1.5 year old!

AIBU to be absolutely dreading this year? Apparently the Met Office has claimed 2023 will have an even hotter summer. I don't know if I can bear it again. DP and I are thinking of booking a holiday just to be somewhere liveable. This is also the first winter I've actually enjoyed because of the relief from the heat.

I live in the Middle East and summers are unbearable. Last summer I had my air conditioner on for nearly 24 hours a day. When I visit the UK I come in October to avoid your heat waves. It's 'orrible.

"We"? So you're assuming that everyone on here is a pasty Celt?

This!

Those sound perfect @Timetoretire. I wonder if I'll be able to hunt them down? We have big bay windows and would want them professionally fitted

Thank you. As others have said, this is a good time to look to buy things like this (fans, air con units) before everyone suddenly realises how hot it is and there's a mad scramble for them, when they've become overpriced and scarce

Can't actually believe what I'm reading. Liverpool and heatwave in the same sentence!!! Scared of the summer. Sorry but get a grip, what nonsense. And yes I also live in Liverpool.

..it was over 40 degrees Celcius were I live. That is a record for the UK, and I would definitely call that "hot hot", but I agree there were only a few days like that.

Me too and the heat was unbearable last year.

After the panic-inducing pandemic, I am not buying all the scaremongering being pushed by the mainstream media.

Just adapt to the warmer climates. That's how humans have survived for millions of years.

I agree with OP. I’m in East Anglia and I can remember it being uncomfortably hot for me and my dog all through July Aug and parts of sept. For weeks and weeks the temperature didn’t drop below 28/29 🥵 The four hot days were when it was 35 plus. I might invest in an AC

It wasn't just last summer though. We've had 2 or 3 years of extreme heatwaves in the UK now.

And I don't actually think terrified is too strong a word when you look at the horrific wild fires that occur around the world during summer. The UK had its own serious wild fire last summer, and it was only by a fluke of chance that fire services were able to contain it and deaths were avoided.

The point is, that it isn't just a few people feeling uncomfortably hot for a few days or even a few weeks. Nor is it just that people need to buy a few fans and close their windows and curtains.

Count your blessings if heat doesn't effect you but there are thousands of people with medical conditions that make them vulnerable and saying that heat related deaths "weren't that high" doesn't mean that those people aren't suffering, aren't becoming seriously unwell.

There are wider implications, too. We're used to the NHS being under pressure during a bad flu season but we're seeing it under corresponding seasonal pressure for sustained periods during the summer now too. This would be bad enough if it hadn't been run into the ground by the government.

With each successive severe heatwave, we are less prepared as a country because our infrastructure hasn't recovered. Parts of the UK are still in drought. We've had a few relatively mild winters in recent years and lower rainfall than usual in seasons when we'd expect more. This means our water supplies aren't recovering.

So much political attention is dealing with COL, crippled public services and the ramifications of brexit that none is being given to the changes that need to be made to ensure we can adapt better to extreme temperatures.

I would suggest that if you suffer in the heat grab any long cotton summer dresses you see. Wear a big hat, sunglasses, sandals and float around. Cover up.

Yes, I'm sure no one has tried this

You mean in summer heat we should wear cool clothing that protects us against the sun? My mind is blown.

Not everyone is such a smart elec though 😊

Ah, summer dresses. So the woolly scarf and winter jumpers is where it all goes wrong in the summer then.

Just wait until you learn about suncream!

The sarcasm about summer clothes is all very amusing and all, but I think the poster makes a good point. I see so many women out in hot sun bare-headed and with sleeveless tops/skinny straps on dresses, so they have bare arms/shoulders/chest, often in clingy man-made fabrics, complaining about the heat.
Friends have sometimes expressed amazement at me being in long sleeves in the sun, but ) it's always cotton or linen and b) it's much cooler to shield the skin from the sun than have your skin exposed to it. It's not that common IME to see people covering up properly.

It is a good point - when it is hot here or i am in a hotter coutnry I tend to reserve short or strappy sun dresses for the evening. During the day I tend to wear shorts with a loose, short sleeved t shirt or cotton blouse or cotton/linen maxi skirts with a t shirt or vest top with wide straps.

I also have a few fine indian cotton or silk wraps which are good for wearing as headscarves or covering shoulders when it is very hot.

I never wear shorts or strappy tops. Wear cool linen trousers and long sleeve tops if I have to go out in the sun. Never stops my head hurting and me feeling ill though.

When it is very hot I stay in, don't even venture into the garden unless I have to. Makes no difference whatsoever what I wear I will still have a migraine, be sick, feel like I can't breathe etc

I've tried wearing long sleeved thin cotton tops in summer and they make me feel horribly constrained, sweaty and uncomfortable. I can't bear the feel of the fabric on my skin.

Some people seem to be confusing weather with climate.

Weather is what you get when you step outside on a particular day, it's what happens in the short term. Climate is long term, it's the average of the weather patterns in a place over a long period of time, like 30 years or so.

So, maybe not too terrified about this summer coming, but pretty nervous about what scientists tell us it might be like for when my kids are older 😬

mydog, I'm sorry that happens to you. My point is just that not everyone is necessarily helping themselves.
Soup, I find slightly crisp cotton or linen works well, and things with some volume rather than anything with stretch, like shirtdresses with quite loose sleeves.

Well, I have some voluminous cotton shirts that make me feel horrible. I just hate the feeling of fabric touching me when it's hot. I just wear strappy tops and keep to the shade instead.

what I need is a kind of teepee affair that sticks out from my body 😂

It might be counter intuitive but I find a sweat wicking base layer helps on hot days, I wear Uniqlo airism vests.