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.

Absolutely.

At mid 20s it is glorious.

30 degrees is boiling hot miserable hell.

Out of interest, I wonder is the op retired or have grown up children? Because this weather is much more tolerable when you’re not having to head out on school runs at the hottest part of the day, or working in it.

There was much less obesity in 1976. If you’re obese in this weather, it’s so much more uncomfortable.

Because it was objectively not as hot. I’m sure plenty of people found 76 fucking miserable too, sounds like there are some rose tinted glasses going on. And the very fact people are still harping on about 1976 shows how rare this used to be.

I agree with you. People have become completely wet nowadays, whining about everything. God help us if something catastrophic did happen. But on the good side it might help people find their inner strength.

Slightly off topic but am I right in remembering we had night after night of really loud thunderstorms in the summer of 76? I was only 5 and hated them - used to get in my parents bed and sandwich myself between them both!

• my sister has had terrible migraines due to the stifling heat having to work in a hot hospital being over 35 degrees - we can’t all sit and relax in our gardens - I have been so tired and lethargic in this heat as well and trying to sleep at night is impossible ! I was ill in 76 with heatstroke but that heat was a rare occurrence - sadly I think these temperatures are going to be the norm now sadly!

And the price of beer going up due to cereal crop failure.

100% people complained. It just wasn't as prolific as no social media

My dad remembers it well and said he was miserable and it was too fucking hot. In family history he stomped outside, flung himself on the grass and slept there all night as he said it would be colder

Of course you enjoyed a heatwave as a child in 1976!
You didn't understand anything about crop failures, water shortages or excess deaths.

You're kind of illustrating how alarming and unusual weeks of 30+ temperatures are if the only comparison you can think of was a freak occurrence 50 years ago.

Lots of people live in poorly built new builds surrounded by tarmac with a patch of grass. No trees. It must be difficult to manage in the summer in these. It’s good to tell people to stay hydrated because there are people at risk because of the heat.

No not retired.
Don't have to do school run now but ot sure how that's relevant?

Don't worry, schools are breaking up, the weather will break and 8 months of grey skies and rain are due..odd days of nice weather to keep us going.

Exactly. Not exactly ground-breaking news is it? It's SUMMER, it's hot. Quelle surprise! 🙄 The highest temperature so far has been 34C, and that has only been in parts of the south of the UK. And it's only been over 30 for a handful of days ... Much of the UK has not even seen 30C hardly. We've had far hotter temperatures in previous years, and it will probably get hotter this year yet. It's only the first half of July! Time to start catching some grips people!

Yep, July 22 I was 8.5 mos pregnant and it hit 35 where I was. Can't remember how long that heatwave lasted though

Just because I find that the weather can feel more/less worse depending on your circumstances.

I find the weather much more bearable at the weekend.

When you’ve got to go out at the hottest part of the day, or if you work outside it can be much more difficult.

To be fair, Britain has a reputation for being rainy, so perhaps it was once considered to be a lovely thing to have a warm summer!

Nowadays, perhaps there is more awareness about skin cancer, dehydration, heat-related illnesses, global warming and so on... and the media often likes to hype things up, especially when there's little else of news-worthy interest going on in the country at the time.

Personally, I wasn't born in 1976, and not everyone likes hot weather. You do; I don't. While you have fond memories of hot weather in your childhood, I was not a fan (especially when it came to the dreaded annual Sports Day), as I have very fair, sensitive skin...to the point that parts of it do not tan at all. Instead, they turn lobster red and BURN. Despite the dark hair, I am an honorary ginger person in disguise! Thus, I have to cover up, even in hot weather.

A lot of people who work indoors have said cheerfully, "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" and it might be for them, as they get to sit in air-conditioned offices.

Unfortunately, due to my job, I cannot avoid being outside in hot weather. The only air-conditioning that I come across is in the newer tractors and JCB. I apply suntan lotion. I wear sunglasses because the world is too bright for my eyes. Sometimes I wear hats, and I always avoid wearing my hair with a parting in hot weather because it burns. I try to drink plenty of water, otherwise I get awful headaches, dizziness and sometimes vomiting. Hydration also helps as I have an active job. I still get incredibly itchy legs in heat, and wake up to long scars that have drawn blood from where I've scratched overnight.

Also, given the current weather, the grass isn't growing as well as it should, and our dairy cows haven't wanted to go outside, either. Staying indoors means more shade and more water troughs available to drink from! It also means less risk of heat-stroke for them. Needless to say, they haven't been very impressed to be turned outside overnight!

I grew up in Scotland ( Ayrshire) in the 70s. I burned so much I peeled ( didn’t even know sun screen existed) hot weather is normal and always has been

Summer of 76. Yes, wall-to-wall sunshine and ice-cream, paddling pools, sunburn, scorching bare feet on the patio, running feral, sitting under hedges with our bikes to take shelter in the middle of the day. A summer like all other summers - only better.

I also remember seeing dead fish floating belly up when we went on holiday to the Norfolk Broads, stand-pipes (in the news, our street was not affected), sponge-washes instead of baths, filling glass bottles with tap water which mum took to elderly friends' houses.

We did not carry bottles of water around with us, possibly because bottles were made of glass in those days. We weren't aware of the long term consequences of sunburn, just the immediate pain and risk of infection.

I’m nearly 60 and apart from the very occasional, very short-lived heatwave I don’t remember summers being as relentlessly over-hot as this one.

I like the heat. I don’t moan about it. But it is hotter now than it used to be. I remember going to Greece on my first overseas family holiday in 1983 and being stunned at temps of 30-32. That’s reasonably common in hot spells here now and Greece is about 10 degrees hotter.

I don't actually like the hot weather but I expect it as it's summer.

This. I was a teenager in 1976 and it really wasn’t that good. Water shortages were awful. And as a result of the water shortage there were other shortages of things that needed water to manufacture them.

No gloom or scare mongering? Don’t you remember the endless government warnings and the hose pipe ban and the extra 20% deaths?

were you even there if you can’t remember all this?

I'm the same age as you and remember lots of thunderstorms as well. Especially, waking up to thunderstorms after passing out with heatstroke. I wasn't sure if it was area specific, as I lived near the South Coast then and often remember lots of thunderstorms during summers, but not so much as an adult, first up North and now East Anglia.