Forum menu
Living in London and cycling into town every day for work the last couple of days haven't been too bad. It's less humid than it was earlier in the week. Next week I'll still be cycling into work early and taking my time on the way home and moving desks halfway through the day at work to take advantage of the coolest spots.
I'm more worried about my dad who isn't good in the heat. This week and next week will definitely have an effect on the elderly in a potentially fatal way. Hopefully it won't be him.
We sleep in a converted attic. Hot in the summer. Cold in the winter.
Bought an AC unit three years ago for nights. I'm on nights sun-weds. Used to be cheap to run for what it used.
Cause of the cost of living currently the AC unit works out at 78p an hour. £7 for a day in bed. The kids rooms downstairs got to 27c last week. First and hopefully last time it will be out this year. A luxury for sure.
It’s going to be extraordinarily hot. A lot of people will die. Not just the one or two you get hit by trees in a storm. Hundreds, possibly over a thousand deaths.
I'm worried for my Mum - she's on dialysis and has no option but to go into hospital three morning's a week. That'll mean 3x patient transfers, and because they do a milk round picking up a few for the clinic that's about an hour in the minibus ambulance which I don't think is air conditioned. The morning won't be so bad (as long as you count a 6:15 pick up as OK) but then she finishes around midday and will be coming home thereafter. She might have to stay later or we might book a taxi for her.
For the rest of us. I've been experimenting and strategy is - I normally wake early anyway, but all the windows in the house are currently open trying to get it down to outside temperatures, which right now (I'm sat outside) are perfect - in fact I have a bit of goosebumps on my bare arms.
About half nine or ten, I'll close them all and then we are on winter rules; in the same way as my wife will yell at folks to shut doors as they go outside in winter, the opposite is true - keep the cold in and the hot out. Blinds will be down, and we'll be relying on the house being insulated to keep it bearable. Obvious really.
I suppose it is doom mongering for those that don't die or become ill due to not treating it seriously. Clear and serious warning needs to be made, which they are, as many people will still ignore it but most might actually take some notice.
What's the betting that it's just a slightly warmer than normal summers day, or rains?
They can barely predict what the weather will be tomorrow, never mind days in advance
I'll just say there is a very good reason the Spaniards have a siesta!
They can barely predict what the weather will be tomorrow, never mind days in advance
I find weather forecasts to be incredibly accurate these days.
TAFKASTR, I’ll bet you one thousand pounds that the max reaches 35C at some place in the country next week.
People who moan about the weather forecast being wrong often have no idea how complicated it is and are usually the same people who proudly declare bollocks like "I'm no good with numbers" or " I don't do maffs"
🤦
We have serious problems in this country e.g. average reading age is about 10/11, numeracy issues, financial illiteracy etc. Etc
We certainly do. Often with people whose job it is to hold people in power to account. The number of journalists who are interpreting information provided by government who openly banter about this is staggering.
A large part of the job of the Met office is dumbing down a subject that really can’t be reduced to a couple of pretty symbols on a map.
Bring back isobars!
What’s the betting that it’s just a slightly warmer than normal summers day, or rains?
They can barely predict what the weather will be tomorrow, never mind days in advance
That's largely down to some news outlets, paying for weather forecasts which are more dramatic interpretations of the available data.
Things have improved a lot in recent years with the new Met office computer, according to the actual Weatherman/Physicist I drink with from time to time.
Given that thomas schafenacker (actual weatherman) didn’t know that lamb was a baby sheep I’m not sure that says a lot.
The models were calling for at least a chance of this a week ago, so yes, forecasts can often be wrong but the advances in the way computer modelling now does the runs and comes up with a blended forecast (that’s the extent of my understanding) is fantastic compared to a decade or two ago. See example below.
https://twitter.com/steelcityskies/status/1545734779139653633?s=21&t=m1a7ccyp7GAAtib8pMh6uQ
It also depends where you get your weather forecast from. MetOffice is usually excellent, BBC often is good. The app on your phone is usually using different data from a global meteorology service and is not as good as the MetOffice
Some people use the temperature on their car dashboard as their reference.
🤦
*******************
In the serious heatwave in Europe about 10-12 years ago tens of thousands of elderly people died due the impact of the extreme heat. They couldn't go outside, struggled to get food and died in their home. Lots of old people live on their own so many weren't found for weeks and sometimes months. France was the most severely affected by this. It was beyond grim.
Edit: I was wrong it was 2003
It's a very unusual combination of weather patterns. Even the Met Office were very sceptical when it popped up on their computer models as a possibility a few weeks back.
People moaning about 'doom mongering' aren't really understanding the bigger picture that this heat shouldn't happen in this country and its just going to become more common and more hot. That's the scary thing.
I'm not sure I've seen a red weather warning in the Midlands before.
People moaning about ‘doom mongering’ aren’t really understanding the bigger picture that this heat shouldn’t happen in this country and its just going to become more common and more hot. That’s the scary thing.
I saw an advert from some XR-type campaign saying something along the lines of "welcome to the coolest summer for the rest of your life". A sobering thought - we've left it too late, haven't we... 🙁
Given that thomas schafenacker (actual weatherman) didn’t know that lamb was a baby sheep I’m not sure that says a lot.
I have a close friend who has studied Zoology to degree level. He insisted that reindeer aren’t real. So stupid comes in many forms.
As for the actual subject, I think people get used to the papers, especially tabloids, being overly dramatic. So when something like this happens they just assume fear mongering. It definitely isn’t and needs taking seriously.
It’s a very unusual combination of weather patterns.
I heard the weather man on the telly yesterday actually say the opposite - that it is a very normal weather pattern which we would expect and the only difference is temperatures in Spain and France, which is feeding it, are exceptionally high.
As for the actual subject, I think people get used to the papers, especially tabloids, being overly dramatic. So when something like this happens they just assume fear mongering. It definitely isn’t and needs taking seriously.
Precisely.
I heard the weather man on the telly yesterday actually say the opposite – that it is a very normal weather pattern which we would expect and the only difference is temperatures in Spain and France, which is feeding it, are exceptionally high.
So unusual.
Some **** mp was on R4 earlier saying people were being snowflakes blah blah blah, and we all go on holiday to enjoy 40 degree temps. Old people survived WWII, he said, so they should have no bother with this.
John Hayes. Incredibly irresponsible of the BBC broadcasting fact-free nonsense as “balance” to a Met Office interviewee. So, no change there then.
Apparently Hayes leads the 'Common Sense Group' of Tory MPs.
If there's one thing the past couple of years have taught us it is that 'Common Sense' is the equivalent of scientific fact.
People who moan about the weather forecast being wrong often have no idea how complicated it is
No. I complain about the weather forecast being wrong because I do have an idea of how complicated it is. 😄. I think that's TAFKASTR's point too. Given the forecast for today is hard enough, forecasting several days away seems hopeful at best.
It’s not the 38 degree maximum where we are that I find worrying, it’s the 25 degree night time minimum!
Looks like very little sleep for a few days
Sure, but a continental climate would be hotter and colder than here. I was wondering what physically is different about train tracks designed for those places.
@ransos
Generally they're not though. Or if they are then they have the same problems. You're trying to make something work in the UK it could be seeing 40C and -20C if youre looking at once a decade/century type figures. There aren't many places that will see swings more than that.
And if you do, the solutions end up being the same, trains don't run at full speed. The only difference might be the frequency. We get this once a decade, Kasakhstan might have this every summer.
Same when people complain about airports closing runways when it snows "Well how to Norway manage it". Answer is they don't, if it's snowing in Tromso then you sit in a hotel in Oslo untill the weather clears enough. They just expect it, rather than Heathrow where we for some reason expect it to work at full capacity during a once a decade snowstorm.
Tinas – yeah makes sense. Guess it’s all down to the CTE of the materials and “normal operating temp”. Spec for the normal and not extremes hence why so much variability..
Interesting on train line tracks… Was under the impression there was compensation for expansion (just like concrete bridges) but perhaps not? Would it not work the other way though… Heat causes expansion and cold causes more tension as the material contracts?
It is expanding as it heats up, it's just pretensioned so when it expands to the length it's been tensioned to it goes floppy.
And as someone else pointed out, that piece of matt black steel in the sun gets a lot hotter than the air temp.
There's two ways they can be laid, either they tension the track with big hydraulic rams, or they heat it upto the maximum temperature you need it to opperate at then weld it.
Given the forecast for today is hard enough, forecasting several days away seems hopeful at best.
Even that is a bit 'it depends' - we live on an island as opposed to a major land mass, that automatically brings variability as seas influence weather patterns more than land masses. It also therefore depends how variable the low and high pressure systems around us are, the forecasters have to model the systems and also how those systems will interact and move. At the same time we don't let Thomas turn up and simply say 'iit's too complicated to forecast so **** knows' which would be the sensible answer
Conversely when the weather systems are stable as they are right now, it gets a lot easier and more reliable
Of course some people are vulnerable and need warning about it, the media are blowing it up a bit much but that’s what they do… It is very British to panic about what is a normal summer elsewhere though. A mate won’t take his dog out if it’s above 20C which is pretty ridiculous
Our HR department sending out emails about ‘working in extreme heat’ for a load of office workers in the UK while our factories in places like India work manual jobs daily every year in much hotter climates is a little bit in poor taste IMO
Given the forecast for today is hard enough, forecasting several days away seems hopeful at best.
Sometimes it's easy - High pressure stays in place for a while usually - and sometimes it's hard. Showers blowing in? That's easy enough, but will you get rain at your house? Impossible to tell in that scenario. But a big band of rain - yes, it will rain.
Our HR department sending out emails about ‘working in extreme heat’ for a load of office workers in the UK while our factories in places like India work manual jobs daily every year in much hotter climates is a little bit in poor taste IMO
Looking after your workers is poor taste because some factories in India don’t?
You’re trying to make something work in the UK it could be seeing 40C and -20C if youre looking at once a decade/century type figures. There aren’t many places that will see swings more than that.
Pretty sure that central Russia and Canada see those sort of swings? My mind has dredged up a word "continentallity" from A level geography but I may be misremembering as it was 35 years ago.
Anyway, all those people saying it's just a little heat - not just snowflakes have a meltdown in hot weather then 😎
Looking after your workers is poor taste because some factories in India don’t?
The workers in India ARE our workers, just because they are a 10hr flight away and have brown skin doesn’t mean they are any different to us. In fact they have less access to healthcare when stuff does go wrong
Ah! My apologies completely misread that.
When organisations don't understand hot weather risk in Wales and just carry on with business as usual.
A mate won’t take his dog out if it’s above 20C which is pretty ridiculous
Sounds a bit over-cautious, but depends on the breed/age/health. Brachycephalic (short muzzle) dogs don't do well in heat for example.
Sounds a bit over-cautious
That was my immediate reaction, but then I remembered that reported/forecast temperatures arevair temperatures in the shade, so add on the effect of sun on tarmac - dogs footpads may not like the combined effect.
My kids have suggested shaving ours!
You have been here longer than that; the correct answer is Sudocrem!
Ah! My apologies completely misread that.
…and my last post does read a little more aggro than I intended there as well, sorry about that.
It’s not something that I have a better plan to fix or even think HR shouldn’t send such useful info out but just one of those things where I think we often forget a little bit of perspective
It's going to be glorious. We don't get enough weather like this. If it's the result of global warming, then good! I'll be getting the sunlounger out and filling the fridge with beer and white wine.
Unless you work in a foundry, or a kitchen, or are a welder.
Plus the 101 other jobs that you have to wear some levels of protective clothing and work inside with equipment that generates alot of heat.
Not all of us sit in am air conditioned office, immobile in front of a monitor whose biggest effort of the day is walking to the water cooler.
Then its going to be horrible and dangerous. Lack of sleep, sweat in ypur eyes, on the verge of passing out as breathing in air at 36c is just not what we are used to
It’s going to be glorious. We don’t get enough weather like this. If it’s the result of global warming, then good! I’ll be getting the sunlounger out and filling the fridge with beer and white wine.
If you ask nicely STW Towers might let you change your login to Jamborgeoisie
Never used to be that much of a fun of hot weather but I've enjoyed it a lot more since holidaying in the centre of France a few years ago, exploring cross country routes at temps of around 32C.
Went out for a lunch time run Thursday, weatherman said it was around 25C, Garmin watch said 30C. Found it a really nice temperature while moving and enjoyed a warm breeze for a change rather than a cool breeze which can make the skin feel cold while still feeling hot internally.
Contemplating a run lunchtime Monday, just a comfortable 5k, not pushing it. Will see how it feels on the day.
Unless you work in a foundry, or a kitchen, or are a welder.
Plus the 101 other jobs that you have to wear some levels of protective clothing and work inside with equipment that generates alot of heat.
Not all of us sit in am air conditioned office, immobile in front of a monitor whose biggest effort of the day is walking to the water cooler.
Then its going to be horrible and dangerous. Lack of sleep, sweat in ypur eyes, on the verge of passing out as breathing in air at 36c is just not what we are used to
You're right. I shall sit indoors and wring my hands instead.
😉
Just to annoy you some more, I would've thought a foundry would be hot as balls regardless of the weather? You know, with all that melting of metals and fire and stuff, and I've worked in plenty of restaurant kitchens and they've all been as hot as hades, cos - ovens. Welder I'll give you. Can't weld in speedos...
If you ask nicely STW Towers might let you change your login to Jamborgeoisie
Post of the year so far 🙂