When did the narrative around warm weather change?

[Katypp]

It used to be considered a lovely thing if we had a warm summer. Older people (me!) have happy memories of summer 76 and endless days playing outside in shorts during the holidays.
No it seems to be considered a bad thing, with people complaing about the heat, getting agitated about children going to school or even going outside at all. Weather forecasters wanging on about 'staying hydrated' as if we are children and delivering the forecasts as if it is a bad thing that we can enjoy nice weather for once.
Why are we so joyless, sucking on to bottles of water as if they were dummies and seemingly afraid to venture outside in case we self-combust.
Yes i know ow global warming and skin cancer but our reaction to a pleasant day is somewhat OTT i think.

Lovely massive sweeping statements there OP

”back in the good ol’ days”

Agree. And it was always just ‘summer’ but now it’s a heatwave 🙄

Because summers weren't as hot. Also, as a kid there was much more paddling pool and lolly action and a lot less having to do the cooking and go to Asda

The parents at my son’s secondary school were keeping their children home because the school refused to let them wear PE kit instead of uniform. It only got to 25 degrees here on the hottest day - it was such a weird overreaction.

getting agitated about children going to school or even going outside at all. - who are these agitated people? No one at our schools mentioned any concerns. Kids are out at the park and in gardens.

Weather forecasters wanging on about 'staying hydrated' - again, I’ve not heard this, which forecast?

Why are we so joyless, sucking on to bottles of water as if they were dummies and seemingly afraid to venture outside in case we self-combust. - all our friends are very joyful, no water bottle sucking and hiding indoors. Maybe you need new friends?

You seem to be the one who is agitated and joyless, is it too hot for you perhaps? 😉

Do you mean the 1976 heatwave where there were plenty of government warnings about the weather, including new Drought Act and the new minister for drought being emoloyed. Or the one where there was an excess death rate rising to 20%. Did the fun also include standpipes being fitted in the streets and parts of the country having water supplies turned off during the day?

The narrative changed because the climate has changed.

A quick google will tell you that, even with 1976, the 1970s summers were not as hot as they are now. We have far more frequent heatwaves.

Summer 76 was lovely, day after day of sunshine in the school summer holidays but crucially it wasn't as hot as we have been seeing max temp recorded was 35.9, yes that's hot but the hottest ever for the uk was over 40 and was in 2022. The extremes are getting hotter which is an issue

Fully agree. I also remember the summer of ‘76 and also ‘95, a full 3 months of back to back sunshine, no doom and gloom or scaremongering, this is very much a recent narrative

I love a warm summer. I just wish it would happen in the summer holidays when I am off work and not trapped in a stuffy classroom. August is always a washout now.

YANBU.

Some people just love to whinge.

Some posters on a thread right now are saying they can't wait for it to drop from 29-30 C to 24-25C this coming week. Yet, several weeks back, when it went from 18 to 24C, people were whining that it's 'too hot.' 🙄

It's a beautiful, long hot Spring and Summer, and it's uplifted everyone's mood that I know, and have met in the past 3 months. It's lovely, seeing and hearing lots of children spashing about in garden paddling pools, and smelling BBQs, and seeing people sunbathing, and chatting happily over the garden fences and hedges, with shorts and a T-shirt on, and the sun blazing down. Yet all some people can do is gripe and whinge.

Only on here though. No-one is moaning in real life. Sure, they have said (a few times when it's been 30C or over,) 'phew it's a bit hot eh?' But everyone I know is delighted with the gorgeous summer this year. (And the lovely Spring we've had.) We were definitelt due. Last long hot Spring and summer was 2018!

Parallel world of Mumsnet again, where (some) people love to moan for ANY reason.

They'll be the first to start whingeing and saying 'it's so COLD, have you got your heating on yet?!' in late September, when it drops to 15-16C!

Yeah but there’s a big difference between 20-25 degrees which would have been a “lovely summer day” in the UK 20 years ago, and 32+ which it has been in some areas this week. We aren’t designed to cope with it as a country. Our homes are too hot, hardly anywhere has air conditioning and it is miserable.

I do agree to some extent though, getting sick of being told to stay out of the midday sun etc!

I remember 23° being considered scorching hot when I was young in the 90s, and it being around 19 or 20 degrees at the height of summer

33 is hell - we are in hell

Yeah, but it's the fact that people were pissing and moaning about how HOT 25C was a few weeks ago, and now they class it as cool.

As I say, some people just need a reason to gripe and moan.

Given that the median age of the UK is around 40, the majority of us weren't even alive in this 1976 summer that keeps getting banged on about on here. The narrative in my lifetime has always been that the sun is dangerous, and when I was little the ozone layer was an enormous concern.

I detest hot weather in the UK. Summer where I live is low 20s average and hefty amounts of rain.

It hasn't been that hot very much though. It's been mostly in the 20s all Spring and Summer for much of the UK.

Its been insanely hot for at least a couple of weeks already this year in london 😪😪

Sorry @Zov

Has it occurred to you that you enjoyed 76 because you were a healthy child with no responsibilities or worries? Just reading the Wikipedia, it doesn't sound very fun for adults - water turned off, food price rises, fires and 20% more people died than would have done in a 'normal' summer! My Dad (in his 80s now) has talked to me a few times over the years about 76, and each time describes it as awful. I'm not sure the narrative has changed. I think your memory may be a little off though.

Is this for real?

We've had temperatures hitting 30c in Scotland this week, that never happened when I was a child in the 70s or 80s. Certainly not temperatures so high for several days.

We have more elderly people, we are more aware of the risk of getting sunburned, climate change is a thing.

It was pretty hot in June/July 2022

Wasn't a long hot Spring and Summer though.

It's already been annoucned as the warmest driest Spring on record. Summer is following the trend. It hasn't been like this for 7 years.

Yeah the heat is always a bit brutal in That London, I'll give you that.

!

I want to know this too. Thank you for being brave enough to point it out - I’ve had posts deleted as “disinformation”. Remember the scary dark red weather maps of 2022, shown side by side with green maps of yesteryear for similar temperatures?

I remember noticing some years ago that temperatures are suddenly quoted in Fahrenheit for hot summers; and now I think this makes them sound scarier. “Temperatures in the high eighties.”

😄😪 where are you and how can I teleport there!

Older and more overweight population who are at risk?
More urban areas which increases retained heat?