Met office RED WARNING for extreme heat.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

General discussion is www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/4583720-we-need-to-talk-about-the-weather-and-the-potential-for-extreme-heat but I wanted this to be seen by as many people as possible.
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2022-07-18

Don’t worry, it’s lovely today and a manageable 31 to 33 Monday and Tuesday. Nice little sea swim and sunbathe I think!

I've said similar pages ago but I always find OYBBK's weather posts interesting and informative.

No panicking here, just sensible precautions, including having our elderly neighbour on the radar.

I've ordered plenty of ice and lollies etc for the children. Ice is to cool down with not just for drinks. Lots of easy food for cold meals. Lots of drinks they are likely to go for which I wouldn't usually buy (so treats) so they stay hydrated.

Got a paddling pool and some mature trees that shade the garden for the cooler parts of the days.

Got a house with good air flow that I can use when suitable. Unfortunately I have to work and my children have school but hopefully provision will be made in both places as needed.

If you, in your hot country, were facing a record-breaking freeze and faced interruptions in your electricity and water supply, and your country had issued a threat to life warning, would you appreciate people in colder countries rolling their eyes and saying 'we have these temperatures regularly, put a jacket on'?

In Texas they had a freeze that Alaska or Norway would have coped with fine. Many people died, including a healthy 11 year old boy. Context matters.

People in Cyprus are used to these temperatures and are set up for them. UK houses aren’t built for heat and people persistently think because it’s the UK not Ibiza it can’t be that hot and wander around at midday without sun cream or a hat

Thank you #OhYouBadBadKitten for keeping these threads going.

From an international perspective- I went onto a Swedish news website this am (I'm a Swede living in the UK) and noticed that the UK heatwave was no 2 on the list of top news this morning. Spoke to my mum in Sweden just now and she said there were was quite a bit of coverage on their morning news too, an interview with a 14 yo British school pupil who was explaining that he was allowed to wear his PE kit on Monday and school will shut at noon so they could get home before the worst of the heat.

The news in Sweden also covered the crisis in Portugal and Spain and showed films of the forest fires raging in Portugal. They said 283 had lost their lives as a result of the heatwave in Portugal. Yet there are threads here on MN mocking people for being concerned about what is quite frankly a scary situation. The Swedish news certainly made it clear that this is a crusis affecting several European countries and not just two sats if heat in the UK.

We spent half an hour this afternoon applying tinted reflective film to DS’s window, which faces south-east and bakes in hot sun. It has already made a noticeable difference. In a pinch I believe you can achieve a similar effect with tinfoil but you do need to be mindful if this is likely to reflect the sun onto neighbours / cars etc.

Apologies for spelling errors and not quite managing to make OYBBK stand out in bold.

“You can be annoyed about the heat, but we can also be excited for a few proper hot days.”

I haven’t told anyone not to be excited, that’s the difference. Plenty of “why the hysteria?” comments when actually people are just asking how to manage a situation they aren’t that used to.

Will aircon actually work in such high temperatures? My mum's in NYC breaks down a lot...

“holidays for us are about the sun or the snow. Can't imagine anything worse than spending 5k+ to be cold and wet in a European spring or winter.”

hahaha you are still so limited in what you think a holiday might be if you think those are the only alternatives

Not looking forward to this! I work in a school with no aircon, obvs. Even with all the windows open, blinds closed, etc. it's horrific in the classroom. The kids have a total of an hour outside breaks per day - no shade in the playground. Then I have at least an hour travel each way on the boiling bus.
Just having a moan!

@georgarina We fairly regularly have cuts to electricity & water.
If the panic of threat to lives that is being put out was justified it would be different.
I’m probably being thick as I genuinely don’t understand how 2-3 days of higher temperatures are a threat to lives, in what respect?
Honestly not trying to be a prick, just trying to understand. Most of my friends and family in the U.K., although being surprised by the higher temperatures, which makes sense, thinks the scaremongering is bizarre

Your all not looking at the right temp 2 days of heat look at the night temps they are shocking

you can be annoyed about the heat, but we can also be excited for a few proper hot days

Not sure how you can be excited about 35+ degree temperatures. It's not like you can do anything. 25+ degrees is ok (getting a bit warm for me, but it's not too hot for most people).

I genuinely don’t understand how 2-3 days of higher temperatures are a threat to lives

Well people drive like idiots when it gets hot.

But more particularly, your body temperature gets too high and it's hard to cool it down. You can hide away from the wind and the snow, but you can't really hide from the heat unless you have a bunker.

The heatwave of 2003 resulted in at least 14,000 extra deaths in France. It's a real thing.

www.britannica.com/event/European-heat-wave-of-2003

I remember that well. I was living and working in south-east France at the time. I used to sleep in on a damp towel in extremis and we escaped up into the mountains on a few occasions to find sub 30° temperatures. There was a national scandal when people wouldn’t return from their holidays to claim the bodies of their elderly relatives.

gasp oh no! We r all gonna diiieeee

Good. I am getting the piss taken out of me on fb by family and friends still in Australia. And in the same breath the moaning about the dreadful cold. Where my best friend it was 2 degrees this morning apparently.

I find the 'calm down' comments so irritating. I see nobody on here panicking. Rather I see sensible tips and discussions on getting through the next few days as safely and comfortably as possible being shared. If you don't need them and want to get legless in the sun that's your look out at least you will have made an informed choice. Don't knock others who choose differently.

To all the posters who have shared information in good faith a sincere thanks. And to the OP for opening the discussion.

I am getting a bit concerned, currently recovering from covid, I'm extremely high risk and can't be vaccinated due to a lot of allergies and the doctors decided it's too dangerous for me to have the vaccine, just got negative test but still very ill with an infection, currently on steroids and antibiotics and even having rest after going upstairs to toilet, can't do much as it is, have to keep sitting down no energy no strength severe asthmatic, I do have a fan but can't afford to use it cause the electricity increases, have 2 kids who I will have to get to and from school but have had to keep them off the last 2 days as been too ill with my asthma and constant attacks, no idea how I am going to cope with it. I already know will have to sit down and keep having breaks and it's only a 10 minute walk when I'm healthy but it's taking so long to get better. I lost my dad recently and check on his partner regularly and shes been expressing concern of how serious it could be. At first when I got the text from power companies priority service I thought it was just a heat wave and to just keep windows open, keep hydrated and dress appropriately same as normal. But after hearing how much she is worrying about it I'm getting more concerned. I have narrowly missed ending up in hospital and don't want to end up there especially with no childcare options available. I've lost a weeks pay cause been too ill to work and self employed so was tight before now it's going be even tighter.

Any advice please, any links to where can find advice, is she right to be so concerned or could it be to do with the loss of my dad and the fact the doctors wanting me in hospital a couple of days ago?

It’s not unusual to have a hot summer.
However I’ll be staying indoors with the doors & windows shut & curtains drawn with fans on. I’m a winter person & don’t like temperatures above 22-23C anyway.
I walk my dog 5:30am’ish & 11pm’ish so that she can toilet & sniff & read her ‘peemail’ & she potters outside in the garden to toilet in the shade in the middle of the day then straight back indoors to keep cool in front of a fan.
I wonder how much it costs to run the fans atm?🙄

Weather forecast on BBC just now saying it will remain at 33 degrees overnight in the 'red zone'. Like @Mosd says, there's the real danger. People will find it hard to cool down.

I've worked in the Middle East where temperatures regularly hit the 40s in July and August. Cooled down at night though - in fact it could get relatively chilly. All life was built around this predictable pattern, especially the timings of the day, how much water people drank (litres per day), and what they wore (covering up).

It's a real "thing", yes, there are hazards, yes, but I'm going to have be a pain again and point out that context/scale is important when trying to draw comparisons with the French event. From that link..

"During the heat wave, which began in June and continued through mid-August, temperatures soared to 20–30 percent above average. Even nightly temperatures were higher than the average summer midday highs. The heat was particularly severe in France, where the temperature remained around 99 °F (37 °C) for more than a week in August in some areas."

Hopefully parts of the UK might be facing no more than maybe two days, one or two nights of very elevated temperatures.

It was the continuous run of night upon night of very high temperatures that was one of the major factor in the high casualty numbers in France in 2003.