Red alert weather warnings

[Naughts]

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.

OK, who are you and what have you done with the real Colin?

 

[Rocky998]

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.

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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.

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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.

Since when do you not want them to be cooked or frozen? More for you to eat? Where is the real Colin! @Naughts is right... Something is fishy here

 

[Colin_T]

OK, who are you and what have you done with the real Colin?

I have a serious side and a cat eating side. It was a full moon last week and I am now in a more docile nature

But I try not to muck around too much when it comes to heat waves that can kill things. You guys are in for a hot time and it won't be very nice.

 

[Naughts]

I have a serious side and a cat eating side. It was a full moon last week and I am now in a more docile nature

But I try not to muck around too much when it comes to heat waves that can kill things. You guys are in for a hot time and it won't be very nice.

I tried your "close the windows, doors and curtains during the day" today. Opened night-time 8pm-8am, and closed during the heat of the day. It goes against all my British instincts to get some air/ breeze in, but it worked remarkably well - 32° outside, 26° inside and 26° in the fish tanks! Thank you . The cat went outside and slept in the shade.
Hoping for similar results when it is dangerously hot tomorrow and Tuesday, then we'll be back to our usual murky drizzle

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I gave my dog a haircut when we had the last heatwave a few weeks ago, but trimmed her fur back again. Set up a paddling pool in the shade in the garden, and froze some healthy kong treats for her. She sleeps on my bed right next to the fan, and fortunately it's been cooler at night, so we've spent some time in the garden at night. When she gets over-excited or seems too hot, wiping her over with a wet washcloth seems to help. We're not walking in this heat, but when it eases off to a more manageable level, we'll walk at dawn and dusk, when it's coolest, taking a water bottle and plastic dish with us. Mine won't do this, but apparently some dogs will lie down on a cool damp towel.

For me since I have the luxury of not working outside the house at the moment (caretaker for elderly parents) I've basically become nocturnal, kinda. I take siestas rather than sleep through, and doing harder/heavier chores at night when it's cooler, take cool showers a few times per day, the best one being early afternoon when it's most hot - that shower is amazing!

I still wish we had a swimming pool though!

 

[connorlindeman]

die

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Ha! Grim little typo there! Thanks, corrected

 

[Deleted member 149562]

It is 0240, the fish are asleep and I am not.

I would go sleep in the bath (empty of course) since that can be a very cold spot in my flat.

Unfortunately my bath was removed in 2018 to make way for a wetroom conversion....so no more "OMG its too bloody hot to sleep...AH! go sleep in the cold bath instead" for me

I have been looking whistfully at the aquarium...."would I fit in there...nice and cool (compared to my human blood temperature)...."

Alas no...that will not work cos I have measured the aquarium and me with the fish would make it severely overstocked and likely waterless too....since if I did climb in there, the water would immediately jump right out screaming.....ooops I meant streaming..... all over the carpet

So here I am stuffing face with flapjack cubes, sat infront of my oh so toasty pooter...sort of wide awake and thinking my usual laundry day (today) is going on hold for a couple days cos the use of the tumble dryer would definitely not be a very good idea....

Bloody British weather....why can't it be its usual miserable, unco-operative, normal self for a change.

...Notice how we Brits have a real knack of complaining about the damned weather...its never good enough, dry enough, cold enough, warm enough, wet enough, windy enough, foggy enough or snowy enough...then we get too much of something and everything and here we are complaining about it again...

Oh well now that I got that off my chest...I'm going back to my bed, grabbing the gel pillows from the freezer as I go so that I have something cold to cuddle...

Back later....maybe....

 

[Alice B]

I used to have a fan clipped onto the hood of my reef tank to blow across the lids and carry heat from the lights away, many times cheaper than a chiller. Blowing a fan across water surface might be helpful. It gets that hot here, but I have Central AC, so I just unplug my heaters for the summer and as long as the ac works we are ok.

My greenhouse pond tank is in 43C degrees in the daytime but it is shaded and I have a pump in it and a couple of tiers of water drops, I don't think it's hitting 29C degrees. I don't have any fans on it, pump goes to the top tray of expanded shale, water moves across the surface, drops to 2nd tray, then additional drop into tank. The drops cause evaporation which lowers temperature

 

[Rocky998]

It is 0240, the fish are asleep and I am not.

I would go sleep in the bath (empty of course) since that can be a very cold spot in my flat.

Unfortunately my bath was removed in 2018 to make way for a wetroom conversion....so no more "OMG its too bloody hot to sleep...AH! go sleep in the cold bath instead" for me

I have been looking whistfully at the aquarium...."would I fit in there...nice and cool (compared to my human blood temperature)...."

Alas no...that will not work cos I have measured the aquarium and me with the fish would make it severely overstocked and likely waterless too....since if I did climb in there, the water would immediately jump right out screaming.....ooops I meant streaming..... all over the carpet

So here I am stuffing face with flapjack cubes, sat infront of my oh so toasty pooter...sort of wide awake and thinking my usual laundry day (today) is going on hold for a couple days cos the use of the tumble dryer would definitely not be a very good idea....

Bloody British weather....why can't it be its usual miserable, unco-operative, normal self for a change.

...Notice how we Brits have a real knack of complaining about the damned weather...its never good enough, dry enough, cold enough, warm enough, wet enough, windy enough, foggy enough or snowy enough...then we get too much of something and everything and here we are complaining about it again...

Oh well now that I got that off my chest...I'm going back to my bed, grabbing the gel pillows from the freezer as I go so that I have something cold to cuddle...

Back later....maybe....

Man, sorry about that... Seems pretty rough. Maybe putting a nice fan in your room will help. My family does it and it helps.
Also maybe put an ice pack wrapped in towels in your bed with you. I have not done it but I think that would work very nicely! In fact... Maybe I'll try it!

 

[Alice B]

It is 0240, the fish are asleep and I am not.

I would go sleep in the bath (empty of course) since that can be a very cold spot in my flat.

Unfortunately my bath was removed in 2018 to make way for a wetroom conversion....so no more "OMG its too bloody hot to sleep...AH! go sleep in the cold bath instead" for me

I have been looking whistfully at the aquarium...."would I fit in there...nice and cool (compared to my human blood temperature)...."

Alas no...that will not work cos I have measured the aquarium and me with the fish would make it severely overstocked and likely waterless too....since if I did climb in there, the water would immediately jump right out screaming.....ooops I meant streaming..... all over the carpet

So here I am stuffing face with flapjack cubes, sat infront of my oh so toasty pooter...sort of wide awake and thinking my usual laundry day (today) is going on hold for a couple days cos the use of the tumble dryer would definitely not be a very good idea....

Bloody British weather....why can't it be its usual miserable, unco-operative, normal self for a change.

...Notice how we Brits have a real knack of complaining about the damned weather...its never good enough, dry enough, cold enough, warm enough, wet enough, windy enough, foggy enough or snowy enough...then we get too much of something and everything and here we are complaining about it again...

Oh well now that I got that off my chest...I'm going back to my bed, grabbing the gel pillows from the freezer as I go so that I have something cold to cuddle...

Back later....maybe....

In Texas we have this thing called rolling blackouts if we use our dryers or AC too much, so a clothesline (or in my case the kennel fence) is how the drying part of the laundry gets done. In the summer a shower just before going to bed, slow ceiling fan, Definitely close blinds and doors at 8 am, reopen blinds only at 8 pm (it will be 42C here tomorrow afternoon, and that temp is in the shade). Sleeping is the hard part, I wait and shower just before bed, even with AC, heat is no fun. I

 

[Deleted member 149562]

The UK rarely...if ever..gets above 75 degrees and thats only for about 60 seconds at a time tween clouds when they shift out of the way

So 96 today and 105 tomorrow is well out of the usual ballpark (even if we are due to back to the usual 75 and wet on Wednesday)

Unfortunately being in my flat, there is no outdoor space for hanging the laundry out...its tumble dryer or delay doing it til the weather behaves properly.

 

[Naughts]

Stay safe everyone

 

[Essjay]

It's not just the UK. Have you read the reports of fires and heat related deaths in France, Portugal, Spain......

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Europe 'heat apocalypse' as France hits 44C while Spain burns

Extreme heat warnings are in place across Europe's western flank today with temperatures in excess of 104F (40C) predicted from southern Portugal all the way up to Manchester.

www.dailymail.co.uk

This happens most years in various parts of Europe but not to this extent or extreme

There is a satellite image of the fires burning across vast swathes of the UK and Europe...yes some might think California and other parts of the US get it as bad every year but this is totally unprecedented for this reagion of the world to have so much heat, so many fires and rivers drying up

This particular heatwave is due to the Azores High weather system moving northerly much more than usual and collecting the Saharan High weather system along the way.

Its just one of those anomalies that happen sometimes...El Nino is another.

Nothing is making these weather systems move abnormally, it just happens...weather systems do their own thing in their own time and direction, humans can do nothing to change them or divert them, we have zero control over any of this