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

Oh what a shame, I just drained a tin of tuna to make a sarnie just before I did my post.

I've 2 cats, I've left random bowls of water everywhere. They're exhausted already bless them

@OhYouBadBadKitten thank you very much for your tips for my great aunt's care package and the warning about using fans in this heat - I didn't know that and doubt she does either!

@xyzabchij I haven't heard of those ice blocks before, thanks for the tip!

I’m sure the cats would help you out if you opened a second tin 😆

Me too. Only just come in wearing shorts and vest, but mainly because my phone needed charging!

🤣 I'm sure they would!

Please don’t give your dogs ice cubes - I saw a warning in Facebook earlier.

School closures are ridiculous in the sense that they are not consistent and not logical. The lesson we should have learnt from covid is that kids in school are safer than home. If kids aren't on school, they are likely to be doing dickish things like jumping into quarry lakes and reservoirs. Or in hot tower blocks, which are warmer than schools. Or unsupervised generally. And then on the other hand you have schools being ruddy ridiculous and continuing to go ahead with sports day.

Quite. As ever Red is the voice of reason.

ListenLinda, get your daughter to carry a big black umbrella as well as wearing a hat, and have a think together about shady routes.

Blue Cross says it’s fine, just not to use them as a substitute for vet treatment if your dog has heatstroke www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/dog/ice-cubes-for-dogs

Thanks for that link TuftyMarmoset

Most people I know who can, are WFH, or driving to work in a car with aircon, into an office with aircon, and some have an aircon unit in their own homes.

I feel sorry for others who can't do this and hope their employers will be considerate.

I definitely won't be wfh, I had to do so earlier this week due to having covid and ended up feeling a bit ill and totally unable to concentrate by the afternoon due to how hot it was in my flat.

I'll be walking to the office (don't own a car), it shouldn't be too warm when I leave home about 8am. No air con in the office but it's on the shady side of the building and has sash windows so will be opening those to get some air flow and will have a couple of fans on and probably a fan heater on the cool setting. It was cooler in there than in my flat on Friday. I'm actually tempted to stay there into the evening on Monday and Tuesday rather than come home to my furnace of a flat.

Richard solidarity from a fellow sauna dweller. I’m literally looking at temperature by the hour to plan being out. It seems so normal outside compared to inside.

Thank you! I hope you manage to find some coolness. I've been sitting in my flat in the evenings this week feeling boiling and assuming it must be sweltering outside, then I pop out to put some rubbish or washing out and find it's actually really pleasant out there and so much cooler than inside.

I did hang some throws over my really thin curtains yesterday during the day to try to keep it from heating up too much and that did make it a bit cooler in my lounge

For anyone seeking to compare 2022's heatwave with 1976, take a look at this graphic on Twitter posted by Dan Holley, meteorologist:

1976 ranks as the 2nd warmest summer in England on record, however the highest temperature recorded was 35.9°C.

These maps highlight the difference in extent and intensity of the heat between 1976 and the highest temperature recorded in the past ~60 years with early next week...

twitter.com/danholley_/status/1548008984841310209

Clearly we are in a far more serious situation now.

I thought it got warmer as well. (Yesterday evening)I put it down to a hot flush

I wasn’t alive in 1976, so all of those making that comparison must be a much later generation.

I am glad the younger people of today get it!

And unlike many places people go on holiday to the UK weather is humid whether it is very hot or very cold,

No it's not, certainly not all the time.

Humidity depends on the air mass currently effecting the area you are in ....and in the UK (like most places) that changes.

FWIW when a similar claim was made here last night a quick dip into the met (airport) reporting sites showed for example Nicosia was far more humid than Heathow yesterday evening - from memory at Heathrow the humidity was in the twenty percent range which isn't high at all and was much lower than it was Cyprus (and by chance by airports were at the same temperature)...

I think it's right to be concerned about the next 48 hours in the UK, it could be very unpleasant in places, I'll buy that in some ways the UK may not be as set up for hot weather as some other countries but I don't understand why there are frequent claims that the UK has some uniquely special and awful aspect to it's weather...

There's a thread where people who remember 1976 are swopping memories.

Those who were not DC remember government action, water restrictions, major public information campaigns and extensive media coverage for weeks.

Also that it wasn't as hot as it is now, though it was usually above 30 somewhere, but the highs swept the country and so places got a bit of respite between them, and that in general the temperatures fell back overnight.

I agree

Trackside fire outside Victoria earlier this week. And the 'fast train' hasn't been fast this week because they are reducing speed for safety.

Your last paragraph doesn't apply to anyone in my office - none of us have air con at home, neither does the office, and we all commute into Mayfair on combinations of tubes, buses and rail. All of which have been horrible already this week. I doubt very much we are unusual for a central London office.

A Brit living in Aussie here - apologies if I'm just repeating what's most already know but tips on how we cope with 35+ days here in Sydney.

We 'close up' our house - keep windows and external doors closed, curtains closed. Fans going in main rooms. Keep internal doors closed to rooms we don't use and all south-facing rooms (obviously it's north-facing that cops it here!).
Fill the bath with cold water just in case. Put some damp flannels in the freezer - just take them out 5-10mins before you want to use them.

Stock up on flavoured ice-poles in the freezer.
Obvious one - we don't go out in the heat of the day if we can avoid it, and always wear sun-hats outside. Park the car in the shade if possible and put towels on plastic/leather seats/steering wheel. Put shallow water bowls outside for wildlife - we often see cockatoos and smaller birds really struggling once temp goes over 38 here. For people with small outside pets like rabbits/guinea pigs etc - we bring ours inside on days over 35. We also fill empty soft drink bottles with water and freeze it, which we pop in their hutches wrapped in towels - ours like to lie against them.

Good luck to all coping with the heat tomorrow!

Don't open the loft hatch!
Attic will be baking hot

Should I close the attic roof window when the sun hits it, or leave it open as a 'chimney' to funnel hot air out?

I've had a look at the models this morning. No change. A note to say that some eastern areas that are in the red warning may still see temperatures around 30c on Wednesday.

@OhYouBadBadKitten thanks for this thread. I’ve noticed the temp for the rest of the week is supposed to drop significantly after the peak of Monday and Tuesday - why does this happen?