‘Hell is coming’: Western Europe braces for unprecedented heatwave that could turn deadly

[Ahuvah]

8 hours ago, rocket said:

I thought your winter was about over. What are your coldest months of the year?

It's officially Spring - from 1st September.  But typically we get a polar blast after Spring starts, usually kills off a lot of lambs, but this one is more severe than usual - time will tell.

[New World Explorer]

1 hour ago, Stormswift said:

It's officially Spring - from 1st September.  But typically we get a polar blast after Spring starts, usually kills off a lot of lambs, but this one is more severe than usual - time will tell.

Our spring is on cooler side as well.... not as severe as yours though.

[Ahuvah]

We are setting up more wind farms to blow the cold weather to the West of us.

[New World Explorer]

Just now, Stormswift said:

We are setting up more wind farms to blow the cold weather to the West of us.

We have built the wall to protect us! LOL ...wait a minute ..that is in Mexico..

[Ahuvah]

I SO LOVE the good clean humour on this site.

[Luezette]

55 minutes ago, Stormswift said:

I SO LOVE the good clean humour on this site.

Yep. And they say that JW's lives are boring. The problem is that people just don't know how to really live.

[Ahuvah]

But, bearing in mind, if the topic discussed in this thread turns serious ... and already lives have been lost in the Northern Hemisphere ... then humour is best placed somewhere else. (Counsel to myself to kerb my poor sense of humour in case this thread does take a turn for the worse)

[Luezette]

1 minute ago, Stormswift said:

But, bearing in mind, if the topic discussed in this thread turns serious ... and already lives have been lost in the Northern Hemisphere ... then humour is best placed somewhere else. (Counsel to myself to kerb my poor sense of humour in case this thread does take a turn for the worse)

That's true too.

[Shawnster]

So, was it Hell?  Was the summer as dire as the headline proclaims? 

[carlos]

7 hours ago, Shawnster said:

So, was it Hell?  Was the summer as dire as the headline proclaims? 

I can't speak for the rest of Europe but here in Spain this was just another scorching hot summer as every summer.

 

Scientists say that last July was the hottest since there are records and probably that's true if you do the numbers. But in practice the temperatures were the same we have every summer. Reaching 42 or 43 degrees (107-109 F) is the norm.

 

As every summer some people die. Most are elderly people with a very delicate health. Others are idiots who go out to practice sport under the sun in the hottest hours of the day. It's not like crowds are dropping dead on the street. 

 

[New World Explorer]

42 minutes ago, carlos said:

Reaching 42 or 43 degrees (107-109 F) is the norm.

This is the point where Australians reach out to the cooler, opening another Aussie cold beer...and the party continues..LOL

[Allabord4Jah]

I remember as a kid when summer would come (particularly) in my State, it would be hot and humid.  High 90 to 100 degrees.  When your a kid, and you are able to run under a sprinkler, or a plastic slide you don't care.  At night in your hot house, a small lit lamp, and windows opened, and trying to catch a breeze, was not easy.  So my parents would all sleep out on the veranda (with screens to keep out the unwanted misquotes.  Nothing like getting a buzz in your ear when trying to sleep with heat at 85 temps at night.  We had no air conditioning.  I think the first air conditioner my father bought was in 1966.  It cooled the entire living room, dinning room, and our kitchen/dinning area.  So the first couple of weeks we all slept on the floor, till my dad had enough money to buy another one with a bigger BTU.  He stuck that one in his room, and it cooled 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.  After that, my parents and we kids growing up, couldn't live with out a air conditioner.  Now am older and you know what, I have air conditioning in my home but truthfully friends, I barely ran it this summer.  And we did have some days that were in the high 90's and heat index of 110/115.  I shut all my windows and ran the fans.  I drank a lot of liquid, but I didn't feel hot.  Must be our body changes when your over 60!  This was before central air conditioning and heating.  My parents ha to old fashion oil burners.  You know back then oil was only like $.35 cents a gallon.  Our house was so nice and cozy in the winter, actually not one of us kids or my parents ever got a flu.  I miss those cast iron heaters with the water/steam heated by the oil.  I miss both our old giant BTU air conditioners we had in our windows, 2nd floor and 3rd.  Let's not go for the attic, I was afraid to go up there, my parents always us kids, the boogeyman lives up there! Well that's worldly parents for ya, scare you to death.   I didn't set foot in that attic till I turned 18.  That's when my parents went to sell their house.  The majority of the kids today, have no appreciation, it's all about their comfort.  I remember going to school when it was pouring down rain and snow (walking 5 miles) to get there on time.  Only time we didn't get to class was when snow storms hit and it was over 3 feet.  Hot weather? Are you kidding me?  I sat in those class rooms for years, no air conditioning.  no body passed out or died.  9 to 3 those were my hours.  How about some of you in here, what can you remember when you were a kid? 

[JennyM]

43 minutes ago, Allabord4Jah said:

   I didn't set foot in that attic till I turned 18.  That's when my parents went to sell their house.  The majority of the kids today, have no appreciation, it's all about their comfort.  I remember going to school when it was pouring down rain and snow (walking 5 miles) to get there on time.  Only time we didn't get to class was when snow storms hit and it was over 3 feet.  Hot weather? Are you kidding me?  I sat in those class rooms for years, no air conditioning.  no body passed out or died.  9 to 3 those were my hours.  How about some of you in here, what can you remember when you were a kid? 

I had to walk 3 kilometers going to school back and forth with my eleven books. 

Now, my daughter hate to walk even for 500 meters. 

Children today felt entitled. 

They think its easy to buy a brand new smartphone. I got my first phone at age 20.. My daughter got hers when she's 12 . 

[Lewis]

23 hours ago, carlos said:

I can't speak for the rest of Europe but here in Spain this was just another scorching hot summer as every summer.

 

Scientists say that last July was the hottest since there are records and probably that's true if you do the numbers. But in practice the temperatures were the same we have every summer. Reaching 42 or 43 degrees (107-109 F) is the norm.

 

As every summer some people die. Most are elderly people with a very delicate health. Others are idiots who go out to practice sport under the sun in the hottest hours of the day. It's not like crowds are dropping dead on the street. 

 

Don’t forget that peoples bodies are adjusted for these types of heatwaves during the seasonal norms like the one you described (July and August in Europe). Early summer heatwave however (like the one in June 2019) are extremely dangerous because peoples bodies haven’t been adjusted yet to the seasonal norms. 

 

Europe were way more prepared this year than the early heatwave that happened in 2003 where 70,000 people died. Thanks to their public awareness campaign and setting public areas for people to cool down, there were way fewer deaths. And the ones that did die as you mentioned were mostly elderly and those with weakened immune system.

 

There may have not been anyone dropping dead on the streets, but there were people dropping dead in the water trying to cool down. A term they are calling cold shock or hydrocution.

 

So was it hell, probably not, but it was definitely not the norm.

[Mykyl]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:00 AM, Shawnster said:

So, was it Hell?  Was the summer as dire as the headline proclaims? 

Here in Scotland is was the worst summer for years. Grey bland and horrible.

[BenJepthah]

6 hours ago, Mykyl said:

Here in Scotland is was the worst summer for years. Grey bland and horrible.

So, how do you say it? Fine soft Scottish days?

12 hours ago, JennyM said:

I had to walk 3 kilometers going to school back and forth with my eleven books. 

Now, my daughter hate to walk even for 500 meters. 

Children today felt entitled. 

They think its easy to buy a brand new smartphone. I got my first phone at age 20.. My daughter got hers when she's 12 . 

These kids have it so easy. When I was a teen I had to walk five feet through deep shag carpet to change the channel on our TV. 

[Lee49]

8 hours ago, BenJepthah said:

So, how do you say it? Fine soft Scottish days?

These kids have it so easy. When I was a teen I had to walk five feet through deep shag carpet to change the channel on our TV. 

also, black and white tv, antenna only, 6-8 channels, no recorder!!! 🤣

[Mykyl]

9 hours ago, Lee49 said:

also, black and white tv, antenna only, 6-8 channels, no recorder!!! 🤣

6 to 8 channels? We had three. Lol. 

[Witness1970]

12 hours ago, Lee49 said:

also, black and white tv, antenna only, 6-8 channels, no recorder!!! 🤣

 

2 hours ago, Mykyl said:

6 to 8 channels? We had three. Lol. 

We had 3 channels in the 1950's and one of them was PBS. (Alabama had the first PBS system in the nation.) There were 3 networks back then, but channel 6 was ABC, channel 13 was NBC, and they shared CBS programming.

We actually had to walk across the room to change channels.

Smart phones? If we broke down on the road we had to walk until we found a pay phone and hope we had correct change.

When we were young kids we would play outside in the heat and when we were thirsty we would pick up a hose and drink water out of it. The hose had ben laying in the sun and the first water coming out of the hose would be hot. But we survived the heat anyway.

 

It's not so much any single event that is a problem, but if the average temperature for a year goes up just 5 degrees that becomes a problem.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Witness1970
Added the last line

[Allabord4Jah]

Pay phones? I remember those on telephone poles out in the country or off a highway.  Now I can't find them anywhere, not even police phones, cause everything is techno!  When our time comes with persecution perhaps like our brothers in various parts of the world that are persecuted, perhaps not having a cell phone (smart) GPS system stopped.  Direction will come in other ways. 

[Ludwika]

Doesn’t New Zealand have snow capped mountains or is that only according to Peter Jackson?

Yes we do! I live near some of them, spectacularly beautiful in winter!

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[Ludwika]

It's officially Spring - from 1st September.  But typically we get a polar blast after Spring starts, usually kills off a lot of lambs, but this one is more severe than usual - time will tell.

And the winds blow the blossom of my plum trees every year with the same cold blast!

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