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

Thank you for all the info and advice. I appreciate hearing from someone who knows more than I do, and who takes the time to try and explain to others.

I will follow your advice to make sure I dont put unnecessary strain on services that will already be over worked.
Again, thank you

1976 hasn’t happened in most of our lifetimes. If you’re having to constantly hark back to 46 years ago for your comparator don’t you think that shows this is extremely unusual?

I'm not especially interested in specific temperatures or records being broken. Nor am I interested in comparisons to <insert year/location here>.

I am interested in ensuring my MIL (significant heart issues), my dad (recovering from radiotherapy and fretting about his livestock) and DD (learning disabilities) are all as comfortable as we can make them.

So threads like this are very useful.

And anyone sneering can sod off (edited out the swear words for those lacking imagination for the risk to those more vulnerable than themselves).

1976 isn't anywhere near our heat record. Highest it got in 1976 was 35. Now we're talking about 40/41.

@OhYouBadBadKitten i follow all your threads - you’re knowledgeable, factual and non hysterical. I’m so tired of the ‘butwhataboutabroad/itsonly2days/we’ve had this before’

no we fucking haven’t, no the UK is not set up for 39 degrees, we generally do not have ac at home and also no access to a pool, or most of us, even a sea breeze.

I will be honest, I’m v worried. I have moderate mitral valve insufficiency, have had 2 episodes of horrible lightheadedness and nausea already at 28 degrees (sat eating toast for 10 mins outside this morning, and driving to work at 7am with all windows open). Today I could feel my heart going like the fucking clappers trying to cope. As a person with cardiac issues I know when it’s my heart and it’s fucking scary.

I’m on leave on Monday, but I’m really thinking to cancel to go into work for the ac. But then I’m worried about leaving Dcs and ddog home without me organising cooling (teenagers and idiot dog).

thanks for all your help x

Spot on.

I’m due to have surgery on my hand for skin cancer on Monday and really worried it will be cancelled because of the predicted 38c in my area. I am fully prepared, including someone to drive me, not vaping, buying easy to prepare food and we were going to eat takeaways for a week so I don’t have to cook, therefore I haven’t bought any food for cooking. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

1976 wasn’t the heat, it was just weeks of sunny weather and no rain. The DROUGHT of 76. These temperatures now are extreme for countries used to hot weather, let alone a country closer to the arctic circle than it is to those hotter countries!

Well yes, some will. Some through misfortune who will be sadly missed, and then others through Darwinism in action.

There will be a few who sit in the sun all day, get heatstroke, and then feel genuine indignation that they don't get 5 star treatment in NHS A&E departments that already have ambulances queueing.

We've been warned, take responsibility for your own behaviour.

I've got a horrible feeling my assistive hearing technology fucked up. And now I don't know what it bloody said, whether it was 23 degrees overnight or 33 degrees up until X pm time at night. Sorry.

• die

Wow, I missed the important word DIE

Second this! Thank you for your advice - it’s helped a gréât deal of us!

Sorry I've not reached the end of the thread yet, but can you elaborate on the drowning/ water safety bit please? Just in case no one else has asked.

It really doesn’t require that much intelligence to understand that when external temperatures are higher than normal human body temperature, this can be a risk to the health and safety of a significant number of people. If you don’t feel you want or need tips on how to help your body maintain a safe temperature, or how to keep vulnerable family members and pets safe, then don’t read or interfere with threads discussing it. Nobody gives a flying fuck if you coped just fine when you lived in Australia or whatever, or that some people go on holiday in those temperatures, so don’t waste space posting about it. Some people would never choose to live in Australia or to go on holiday in incredibly hot places precisely because they think that weather is hideous. Science is on the side of those who feel they need to be prepared, rather than assuming it’s nothing whatsoever to worry about.

@BonnesVacances

I try to find a link but if you were to fall into cold water or get caught in a riptide. Do t trash about trying to swim. You will tire very quickly.

Lie on your back and make a star shape. You can stay afloat this way with small hand and feet
Movements.

Cold water shock.

Swimming in water bodies not suitable/safe for swimming (quarries, gravel pits).

Rip current

Same issues here, the kids are due to go on a school trip where they will have to walk at least 3 miles!

Seriously 🙄 This country is not set up to deal with temperatures of 35 degrees, that’s why people are panicking. In Cyprus most people have tiled floors and air condioning. Not carpets and a £10 fan from Argos. They are also acclimatised to it as it’s hot most of the time, whereas we are more used to weeks of rain and temperatures of no more than 20 degrees

Ice cubes

It's as if thousands of people going on holiday do not go seeking places where temperatures of 40°C are not regularly exceeded.

It's as if most British people don't actually do that, and the ones that do stay in accommodation designed for the climate and don't do any hard work while they're there...

Freeze bottles of water and put them in front of fans (not too close, water & electric, obvs). Wet hand towels with cold water (just a bit wet, not dripping) and hang them over the curtain rail in front of open windows/doors.

Don't give dogs ice! It's counterproductive, their bodies react by immediately trying to warm them up. Just fresh water from the cold tap to drink is fine.

@Walkaround very well said.

It's as if there are people who are unable to comprehend or accept the fact that life isn't exactly how it was yesterday, the same as it was in 1976 (Yes I was there), the same as when they went on holiday to Cyprus that they are left with the only option of sticking their fingers in their ears and telling others that their adaptations amount to mass hysteria and justifying their stance with spurious comparisons. I wonder who it really is that is panicking.

Thank you. Heatwaves in the UK are nothing like hot holidays in Greece etc.