Heatwave what Heatwave ?

[eMeS]

Now back from shopping at my nearest Lidl (Newport Pagnell branch, by the M1 crossing).
Car dash board thermometer was reading 38degC when I started off, and quickly rose to 39, then down to 38 for ~1km, and back to 39 as I approached home. External Max-Min therm on shady side of house was reading 36, but Max had recorded 40C - possibly from very early sun hitting it. (The birds have removed most of the aluminium screening that I used to shield the sensing bulb.)

 

[Busaholic]

I attend our local NHS clinic every Tuesday and Friday, but they insist that I attend tomorrow.

I had a 14.10 appointment today, at a hospital where there's a quarter mile walk to access the department I required, including one long and two short stairs (the lift would require a further hundred yards walk!) TBH, what with being required to wear a mask and the walk, I needed a sit down and to drink a glass of water when I got there, but it was an important and productive meeting for me which should get me some necessary treatment imminently, so I am grateful. Temperature here in early 30s C.

 

[adc82140]

36 here in Hampshire. So it turns out the presenter on local radio (yours truely) wasn't far wrong saying it could top 37.

 

[brad465]

Wales provisionally has a new temperature record of 37.1C at Hawarden, which is almost 2C higher than the previous one, according to the Met Office.

 

[adc82140]

I don't think the UK record will fall today. The more intense heat in the east is due tomorrow.

 

[TheBigD]

38C here in South West Lincolnshire this afternoon. Bit hot and sweaty on my 30 mile bike ride this afternoon but nothing like the hotest I've rode in before (that honour goes to when i was cycling on the edge of the sahara dessert in eastern Morocco back in 2017). Plenty of water and all good.
Forecast to be a bit hotter tomorrow but nothing to be concerned about.

 

[Howardh]

Leaving a train is a bit like when they open the aircraft door in Corfu in August. Why can't we be allowed to enjoy that for a whole two days??
Had a walk, plenty of water (and plenty more beer) and a friendly nod to another guy who was also wearing a light skirt.
Three months might be too much because we aren't equipped for it being a bit warm. But three days, bring it on. Can we have five??

 

[TheBigD]

Back in Jan 2005 I visited Ayres Rock in Australia. Stepped off the nice air-conditioned bus and in the the 45C heat. Ouch! Like walking into a brick wall!!!

On the plus side we were treated to a fantastic storm that evening with amazing lightning and water running off the rock.

 

[Howardh]

A pigeon landed on a hot rail, hung around for a bit and didn't even blink.

We have dead hard pidgies up norf.

 

[Yew]

Desperately want to be outside enjoying the local countryside but it's just too hot to safely do that this weekend! We're up to nearly 28/29 where I live & the sun is STRONG!

Such temperatures are fairly common on the continent?

 

[TheEdge]

My car in direct sun for about an hour was registering 44 here in Norwich. Apparently our actual high was about 37.

Last time I saw figures like that I'd left a hire car in the summer sun in Nicosia all afternoon and it was 41...

 

[philosopher]

Got to 37c in Central London. To be honest, it did not feel too bad, which I think must be because the humidity is very low. I went for a 20 minute walk at 7pm and barely sweated.

Singapore at a very humid 32c was way way more uncomfortable than today.

 

[Bald Rick]

Was out driving earlier This evening. Car thermometer read 37.5C. Then it started raining (briefly). Definitely the hottest I have ever known it rain, and that includes a fair bit of time in the tropics.

 

[C J Snarzell]

Interestly one of the online news feeds had a top 10 hottest days of the year in the UK.

Most of the list were from the last 20 years - I'm wondering if we can blame global warming for that?

25 July 2019 was the top of the list. 10 August 2003 ranked as 2nd, with today coming in at a provisional 3rd place.

3 August 1990 was in the list, but strangely enough nothing from 1976. I am assuming the summer of 76 was more of a long dry summer than a scorching hot one?

CJ

 

[Bald Rick]

Interestly one of the online news feeds had a top 10 hottest days of the year in the UK.

Most of the list were from the last 20 years - I'm wondering if we can blame global warming for that?

25 July 2019 was the top of the list. 10 August 2003 ranked as 2nd, with today coming in at a provisional 3rd place.

3 August 1990 was in the list, but strangely enough nothing from 1976. I am assuming the summer of 76 was more of a long dry summer than a scorching hot one?

CJ

yes. 2 months of fairly hot and no rain. I think the hottest day in 1976 is 12th on the all time list, probably now 13th and soon to be 14th.

 

[najaB]

Most of the list were from the last 20 years - I'm wondering if we can blame global warming for that?

Yes, we can blame climate change for that. Which is almost certainly (though not conclusively) anthropogenic.

 

[Busaholic]

yes. 2 months of fairly hot and no rain. I think the hottest day in 1976 is 12th on the all time list, probably now 13th and soon to be 14th.

Not quite no rain - a Saturday evening in July in Beckenham when my brother chose to host a barbecue saw about an inch of rain in two hours. I was a guest!

 

[P Binnersley]

The Summer of '76 was solved when the Prime Minister appointed a Minister for Drought at the end or August. Severe thunderstorms three days later .

 

[MattA7]

Found the debate about closing schools during a heatwave strange given most schools are air conditioned so kids are probably safer from the conditions there.

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous. For many country’s across the world the temperature today and tomorrow is normal (if not quite cool) it’s forecast in London to possibly reach 102F tomorrow however in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

 

[yorkie]

Found the debate about closing schools during a heatwave strange given most schools are air conditioned so kids are probably safer from the conditions there.

It's not true to say they are mostly air conditioned; do you have a source for this claim?

It's quite possible they can be cooler than homes but it depends on various factors.

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous.

To some extent maybe but it is really important that people are advised on how to avoid heatstroke and to drink plenty of water. I've encountered several people today who I think weren't taking it seriously enough and weren't drinking enough water; this is a common problem in hot weather in the UK in my experience.

I've really made an effort today to drink enough water and it has paid off.

 

[Mikw]

Found the debate about closing schools during a heatwave strange given most schools are air conditioned so kids are probably safer from the conditions there.

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous. For many country’s across the world the temperature today and tomorrow is normal (if not quite cool) it’s forecast in London to possibly reach 102F tomorrow however in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

I don't think it was "scaremongering", it's a word that gets thrown around at almost anything these days.

The met office released a warning, which will be pretty accurate, and the media reported it. With advice. Yes, there were some dire warnings, but excess deaths always go up in really hot weather. So prudent to warn.

 

[gswindale]

Found the debate about closing schools during a heatwave strange given most schools are air conditioned so kids are probably safer from the conditions there.

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous. For many country’s across the world the temperature today and tomorrow is normal (if not quite cool) it’s forecast in London to possibly reach 102F tomorrow however in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

It maybe common in other parts of the world, but the local population will be used to it and know how to deal with it - what sort of food to eat, clothes to wear etc.

When it is an unusual event for any region, it is surely sensible to warn people and provide advice is it not?

Going back to schools, certainly our two closest primary schools have no a/c and I suspect it highly unlikely that either my old junior school or secondary school would have had it retro-fitted. I would suggest that it would only be relatively "new build" schools that would have more modern climate control in them.

 

[Broucek]

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous. For many country’s across the world the temperature today and tomorrow is normal (if not quite cool) it’s forecast in London to possibly reach 102F tomorrow however in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

The whole point is that those temperatures are normal there and highly unusual here. As a result our infrastructure doesn’t cope so well and people don’t know how to behave.

Same thing with snow - if you live in Canada or Norway then it’s expected and therefore worth investing in appropriate infrastructure and clothing while here it’s relatively unusual

Of course we COULD build railway lines (to pick one example) that cope better with such extremes but I imagine (I don’t work in the industry) that there are costs to doing so

 

[Bald Rick]

Found the debate about closing schools during a heatwave strange given most schools are air conditioned so kids are probably safer from the conditions there.

I see quite a few schools through some voluntary work that I do, and I’ve never seen one with air conditioning of any sort in any classroom. Unless you count opening all the windows as air conditioning.


Your point about Riyadh and Dubai is exactly the issue, albeit not in the way you raise it. Those cities have 40C + heat routinely, and therefore their infrastructure, culture and even society is designed to accommodate it. Ours isn’t. I wonder how Dubai would cope with two months of rain and temperatures fluctuating between 2C and 8C?

 

[WelshBluebird]

in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

And they are built for it. Air conditioning near enough everywhere etc etc. We aren't built for it and don't have that.

 

[najaB]

That being said this whole scaremongering about the heatwave is ridiculous. For many country’s across the world the temperature today and tomorrow is normal (if not quite cool) it’s forecast in London to possibly reach 102F tomorrow however in places like Riyadh and Dubai 115F is the norm during the summer.

Exactly. It's the norm. Now if it was suddenly to go from 45°C up to 60°C for a couple of days they might struggle. Similarly, if their winter temperatures were to go down to -3°C by day / -10°C by night as is typical here.

 

[brad465]

yes. 2 months of fairly hot and no rain. I think the hottest day in 1976 is 12th on the all time list, probably now 13th and soon to be 14th.

This year is not far off in terms of dry conditions, if this autumn and winter doesn't see much rain in the south-east we're in real trouble. Below is a map from the South-East Water Situation report showing rainfall relative to average over the last 1, 3, 6 and 12 months:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1089438/South_East_England_Water_Situation_Report_June_2022.pdf

I also happen to know from the April report that November 2021-April 2022 was the second-driest Nov-Apr on record, where the driest was, you guessed it, 1976.

 

[Trackman]

It's not true to say they are mostly air conditioned; do you have a source for this claim?

I've really made an effort today to drink enough water and it has paid off.

I agree, schools may say air-con but this not strictly true depending on their interpretation of it.

As for water, I always drink enough water and make sure my pee is clear to make sure I'm not dehydrating.

 

[D821]

Not looking forward to Tuesday's weather. Monday was bearable, but a lot of Merseyrail's services were cancelled in the afternoon. I ended up getting the ferry to get back over to Wirral, which made a pleasant change.
My dogs haven't enjoyed the heat, either.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I'm surprised Chris Whitty hasn't put in appearance yet to tell us all the implications of too much exposure to the sun. I'm guessing after the Covid affair he's probably keeping away from the Government and the media.

CJ