Red alert weather warnings

[Essjay]

Houses in the UK have several inches of loft insulation; new houses have to be built with cavity insulation and double glazing. We had cavity insulation put into our house a couple of decades ago the cost which has more than been offset by the savings in fuel bills, and double glazing installed to replace the single glazing that the house was built with. We have thick curtains at every window and door with thermal linings. Luckily those linings also help to keep the heat out.
Homes built with air conditioning are very rare. Offices and shops yes, but not homes. Our homes are built to keep the heat in and reduce fuel bills.

Our son lives in a flat (apartment) built in 2013. It has a ventilation system which uses the warm air being extracted to heat the cooler air being drawn in. But he can't use it at the moment as the air outside is warmer than the air inside and he'd end up increasing the indoor temperature.

 

[Oblio]

It looks like relief may be in sight

Leek, United Kingdom 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground

Leek Weather Forecasts. Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weatherreports, maps & tropical weather conditions for the Leek area.

www.wunderground.com

 

[Back in the fold]

I think the driving parameter would be RH (Relative Humidity). As RH rises, the temp drop due to evaporative cooling decreases. Phoenix is probably much less RH than the OP location.

Phoenix is right at zero humidity so it is a unique situation. Now let me ask you about Georgia . I've met several people from Georgia over the years and every one of them told stories about the heat and humidity , how stifling it is. England is another unique situation. Supposedly it is cold and rainy all the time but not anymore. @Slaphppy7 says Texas is unhabitable without air conditioning. I am blessed to be in perfect weather Montana. You folks who are experiencing this devilish heat have my sympathy. It's hot here in Montana right now but in a month we have fall starting. I can live with it.

 

[Oblio]

Phoenix is right at zero humidity so it is a unique situation. Now let me ask you about Georgia . I've met several people from Georgia over the years and every one of them told stories about the heat and humidity , how stifling it is. England is another unique situation. Supposedly it is cold and rainy all the time but not anymore. @Slaphppy7 says Texas is unhabitable without air conditioning. I am blessed to be in perfect weather Montana. You folks who are experiencing this devilish heat have my sympathy. It's hot here in Montana right now but in a month we have fall starting. I can live with it.

As I've gotten older, the heat and humidity is less stifling, as long as I'm now working outside. I grew up in St. Louis and honestly I think it was worse as far as humidity goes. GA has longer fall/spring season and a milder winter.
I've heard that the larger cities in AZ have driven up the RH, I just checked and currently Staffordshire and Phoenix are within 1 RH point.

When I first lived the Mojave Desert, swamp (evaporative) coolers were common, now the RH has risen enough to make them impractical.

 

[Essjay]

The red alert is only for 3 days - Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The predicted Tuesday temp where I live is 32 deg C/90 deg F (we are in the amber alert area not the red area). On Wednesday the day temperature is due to fall and by mid afternoon it is predicted to be lower than Tuesday-Wednesday overnight. By Friday the daytime max where I live is predicted to be 16 deg C/61 deg F. That's a drop of 16 deg C/30 deg F from Tuesday to Friday.
This is why we stand no chance of becoming acclimatised to the weather. Coupled with the fact that the average Brit says - oooh look the sun is shining, lets go out and lie round in the sun while it lasts, so we have to be warned of the dangers

 

[Oblio]

Not to hijack the thread , but my daughter will be at Oxford U. in a few weeks for 6 weeks, then to the EU for another 7 weeks. I hope this heat wave goes away, if only because she is extremely limited on her luggage allowance and is already packed and ready to go on her current campus and it is hard to change her belongings inventory.

 

[Essjay]

Don't worry, in a few weeks she'll need winter clothing


OK, summer clothing plus something to wear over the top, sweatshirt for example. It has been known to be warm in autumn. My great aunt and uncle emigrated to Kirkland Lake in Canada and they were always cold when they visited 'the old country' in the middle of summer.

 

[Colin_T]

Insulation works both ways. It traps heat inside during winter to keep you warmer. It can also trap cool inside and keep the heat out when it's hot outside. We have insulation in our rooves too, at least we're meant to, but the noises I hear in my roof with the rats playing football or wrestling would suggest otherwise. But insulation stops heat coming in and if you cool the inside of the house down, it stops the cold going out.

----------------------
PETS AND HEAT
For everyone with pets, treat them as another human. Keep them indoors during the heat of the day. If they get hot, cool them down with a fan or spray them with water.

Dogs can't sweat and if you have dogs with long hair, give them a hair cut now before it gets hot. Short front, back and sides for all dogs in hot weather but don't remove all the hair from their back because they can get sunburnt if out in the sun.

If your dog gets hot, put it in a bath with cold water and let it cool down. Have plenty of water around for them to drink as well but keep it in a shaded spot so it doesn't heat up. Most dogs will sit in front of a fan (just like people) and it will help keep them cooler.

Birds can be kept indoors and if they are really hot, use a plant mister filled with water to spray them down. You can have a fan blowing partly on their cage but not directly on their cage. Birds can lose body heat very quickly and die if they get cold. They will tolerate heat better than cold. The best place for caged birds is in a room that is comfortable for people, and where there are no cold draughts blowing over them.

Cats can be kept indoors and if they are long haired, give them a buzz cut. If they get too hot, make a cold water bottle (bottle of frozen water wrapped in a towel, dogs can use them too) for them or give them a cold bath. They won't like it but if a cat is over heating, a cold bath will help cool it down.

Other animals that are stuck outside should have plenty of shady areas to stay under. Make sure they have several containers of clean water that are also in the shade so the water doesn't heat up. Keep them calm and relaxed and they should be fine with the heat. If they are really hot, hose them off to cool them down.

----------------------
When temperatures get to 40C degrees, they are dangerous and people and animals will die if they don't take precautions. Shady areas are good, drink lots of water and try to avoid doing anything strenuous during the heat.

Give your pets water with ice blocks in. Make sure you and your pets stay hydrated. You can go through 4 or 5 litres of water per day when it's hot so drink heaps. You will sweat a lot but it's how the body cools itself down. And if you are well hydrated, you are much less likely to suffer from heat stroke.

 

[Back in the fold]

I thought you Brits were tough. Winston Churchill would have put on his big wool coat this week and Bob's your Uncle .

 

[Essjay]

Back In Churchill's day everyone was tougher. No central heating remember. When I was growing up in the 1950's it was common in winter for the inside of the bedroom window to be completely covered in ice when we got up. When I went to university in 1971 I lived in "digs" for 3 years - we had an unusual set up in that the three students were treated like members of the family. The family had central heating! When my parents came to visit they were so hot they had to keep finding excuses to go outside to cool off. We wore summer clothing in the house all year round, and put on thick woolly clothing, coats and hats to venture outdoors in winter. That was considered decadent by my family

 

[Back in the fold]

@Essjay I always wondered about that term "digs". Thanks for clearing that up for me after 66 years.

 

[emeraldking]

A national emergency has been declared here in the Uk after a red extreme heat warning was issued for the first time. Temps could hit 40C+ which is unheard of for us

Same thing here... But we're neighbours... So, almost the same weather conditions. They're specifically warning for this Monday and Tuesday. And I live in the eastern part of Holland. Most of the time when it becomes so hot, it will be much higher in the southern and eastern part of Holland. This means only wearing my swimsuit... Don't worry, I'll spare you the images...

 

[Essjay]

@Essjay I always wondered about that term "digs". Thanks for clearing that up for me after 66 years.

Digs is another name for lodgings. Most students stayed in their own rooms and their meals were brought to that room, but the family we lived with were different, we lived as members of the family taking our meals at the dining table with them, and using the living room with them. They did have a sitting room which was for their use only, though.



Back on topic........

 

[Essjay]

I wondered how mainland Europe was coping. We have reports in the media of forest fires in several countries. I'm just waiting for someone to use a disposable barbecue on the North York Moors and set the heather alight - at least that's a lot less dangerous than forest fires.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

My best mate lives in Belgium, not far from Brussels. He works as a manager in the stockroom and loading bay of a supermarket so it outside alot of the time making sure the trucks are being offloaded properly and the stuff is put away in the right places.

The supermarket is part way through an expansion programme and his specific area is now a huge marquee in the carpark. He thinks he has lost about a stone in weight so far with the weather being so warm. The temporary freezers in the marquee are having issues with the warm weather, the boss cannot remove the sides of the marquee to allow any air cirulation cos the stock would get nicked.

It is like a giant sauna and although the boss has said that he will close the store on Tuesday, the hottest day, he can't allow my mate time off too cos there are deliveries due.

However my mate has a plan.....he lives next door and his lounge overlooks the marquee and temp loading dock, so he is going to be at home and only go down there when the trucks arrive.