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.

Personally I wonder when attitudes became narratives.

Absolutely! Thank god there's a plucky band of brave rebels armed only with millions of dollars from fossil fuel companies and/or capitalism-at-all-costs billionaires to show us the TRUTH about climate change!!!?!!!!

When did the narrative around warm weather change?

When extreme weather events stopped being a once a decade type thing e.g., the summer of 76 or the great storm of 87, and starting becoming an every year/several times a year thing.

What is it specifically about moving to a more sustainable economy, with responsible production and consumption at its core, underpinned by cheap, clean, reliable efficient, decentralised energy that frightens you so much?

Or the big freeze of 1963. I was only a toddler at the time but my parents remembered it well. Started snowing on Boxing Day 1962. It lasted three months.

It’s not the idea of cleaner air, better efficiency, or even decentralised energy that concerns me. What worries me is how these goals are being pursued under the banner of a 'climate emergency' that I don’t believe is supported by balanced science or open debate. I see a lot of ideology, top-down control, and financial interests driving the agenda, often at the expense of individual freedoms, economic stability, and informed consent.

The irony.

If it's ironic to question a movement that demands total compliance, shuts down dissent, and gets rich off fear then yeah, I’m irony personified!

1976 is obviously a stand out, where temperatures were over 30 degrees for 15 consecutive days. If anyone wants a few facts, here are the top 15 hottest summers using means (taken as mean CET [Central England Temperature series] temperatures (in º Celsius) for the three summer months):

1976 17.67
1826 17.60
2018 17.40
1995 17.27
2006 17.27
2022 17.27
2003 17.20
1846 17.10
1983 17.03
1947 17.03
1933 17.00
1911 16.97
1899 16.90
1975 16.83
1959 16.57

It's cool and windy today on the south coast and rain forecast for this weekend.

Crisis averted.

We had lots of summers like this when my kids were at school, sunny June and July with the kids wilting by the time the holidays start then it starts raining the day they break up and rains on and off all summer till they go back in September, then we get a couple of sunny weeks just to annoy everyone.

Now there's a shitload of hyperbole crammed into a single sentence.

Total compliance isn't being demanded. You can tell by the way that the proposed dates keep being pushed back because hardly anyone is complying.

Dissent isn't being shut down. You can tell by the way you, and your climate-change denying chums, are all over social media and even positions of power. It's true that we're not all simply agreeing with you but that's what happens when the massive bulk of science shows that your dissent is based on bollocks.

Who the fuck do you think is getting rich off of trying to tackle climate change? Are they making more or less money than the fossil fuel companies etc who have made incredible amounts of money with CO2-producing industry and would really like to continue doing so to the extent they're bankrolling a lot of the climate change denial?

I agree, some of the posts on here re the weather are beyond dramatic!

I think the narrative changed after 2003, especially as the impact was greater in central Europe and Canada (maybe some other places, thought to lead to tens of thousands of excess deaths).

Due Loads of rain here in the next week. The children all start breaking up next week and week after so the miserable weather will start again soon.

Click bait news stories are what’s driven the madness over the weather all the time these days. It can’t just be a nice warm or hot it’s got to be a scorcher or such. Haven’t even had a good storm here for years I’m sure when we do it will be the storm of a century of some bull.

It’s genuinely funny how furious some people get the second you question the climate narrative.
I’ve never denied the climate changes. I just don’t buy the apocalyptic messaging or the idea that wrecking our economy and handing more power to global institutions is the solution. But try saying that, and people lose the plot.
If the science is so settled, why does anyone questioning it send people into meltdown? The shouting, the name-calling it’s not coming from people like me. It’s coming from the ones who claim they’re saving the world, but can’t tolerate being disagreed with.

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.

Melanoma is now the 5th most common cancer in the UK and increasing rapidly.
Those of us of a certain age who were playing outside in shorts during that summer holiday are now fueling the statistics.

Not exactly ground-breaking news is it?

The thing is, it is. Summers have always been hot but they're getting hotter and this is having huge impact for nature, agriculture and human life.

The "narrative " changed when it became increasingly common for us to experience many days of 30+ degree weather.

People need warnings as apparrently many British people have no idea how to be safe in hot weather and need to be told.

It is true we and other places kn Euorpe have always had some hot weather in summer bit you would have to be wilfully blind not to notice how things are changing. Three years ago London had three days where the temperature as over 40 degrees.

We go to the South of France regularly and it is common in June and July or it to be high 20s to low 30s a lot. Last week for two days it was 40 degrees - no amount of "being sensible and using a paddling pool" is going to make that fun. I have also noticed the heat gets "stuck" more. At the end of our holiday we were in seaside towe where it was 33 degrees in the day, not unusual for that area in early July. But at 10pm it was still 29 degrees - it simply wasn't cooling down at all during the night.

TL:DR yes it is normal to have hot days in summer, but what we are seeing is unusual and increasingly alarming.

Health impact
The 1976 heatwave is understood to have been the cause of 20% "excess deaths" and there was a significant increase in hospital emergency admissions from 24 June to 8 July 1976 compared with the same period in 1975 or 1974.[11] This compares to 59% excess deaths for the 2003 heatwave.[12]

Was your mum working in a hospital/care home at the time?

It's quite stark (for the benefit of those baffled by numbers) when you consider:

That list goes back almost 180 years

The past 50 years account for 8 of the 15 entries (if I counted on my fingers correctly)

The past 25 years account for 4 of the top 7.

There's a pretty graph showing the trend back to 1650 on this page.

https://www.netweather.tv/weather-forecasts/news/13048-the-growing-impact-of-extremes---state-of-the-uk-climate-2024-report

No good point. She wasn't, but she certainly doesn't remember it being reported.

I'm not saying it didn't happen - I'm just agreeing that the narrative has changed.

Stats on excess deaths would have been likely published somewhat after the events, it takes time to collate that kind of information.
How old was your mum at the time? Is she likely to have looked out for articles on excess deaths in the papers?

Yes that's startling.

Again, I'm not saying it didn't happen! Only a fool would say that. And I remember the figure of 10,000 extra deaths in France alone as a result of the 2003 heatwave in Europe.

OTOH, I have read that cold snaps kill a lot more vulnerable people.

We are certainly going to have to get better at dealing with hot weather. So many people act like total fools in the heat. I was looking at the Wimbledon crowds - people on Centre Court sitting in direct sunlight for hours and hours, with lots of skin exposed and no hat on. Some didn't even have sunglasses. People can help themselves to an extent.

I'm not here to argue with you. I'm agreeing with the OP that the narrative has changed. My mother no fool, if that's what you're implying - she was a nurse. Granted she was on mat leave at the time.

I work in the marine sector and am acutely aware of the long lasting marine heatwave and the effect it is having on life in the oceans. I spend a lot of my working day explaining it to people, many of whom don't want to hear it