
'Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins across Europe - digikazi
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/24/hell-is-coming-week-long-heatwave-begins-across-europe
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mrosett
Europeans seem to enjoy mocking American fondness for air-conditioning
(including, occasionally, on this forum). But heatwaves in the US don't kill
tens of thousands of people [0]. The forecast for Phoenix this week is north
of 105F/40C every day this week and gets up to 110F/43C, and while summer in
Arizona is hardly pleasant, it doesn't have disastrous results.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave)

~~~
mft_
A lot of the mockery I've seen isn't related to Americans having air
conditioning per se, but rather the ridiculously low temperatures the things
seem to be set to during summer. I was in DC a couple of summers ago and the
hotel I was in was so cold, I needed 2-3 layers (including a warm sweater)
indoors... despite the temperature outside being ~40*C!

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dmortin
I don't get it either. Anyone has an explanation? Why is it good if it's so
cold inside you have to wear a sweater?

~~~
mrosett
<speculation>

I think there are two things: * Precisely calibrating the temperature of a
large space is really hard, and people are surprisingly aware of slight
differences in temperature. To me, 68 degrees can feel like "I want a sweater"
and 74 can feel like "It's sweltering in here." And preferences vary a lot
across individuals * Coming in from the hot to the cold can create a large
shock even if the building isn't _that_ cold. If you're outside sweating in
hot, humid weather, walking into a cool, dry room will feel frigid at first.
Over time, though, it will feel more normal.

</speculation>

~~~
mikhailt
This is pretty much it; it's much easier to ask people to wear more clothing
than it is to take them off.

Even in an apartment with 3 roommates, we'd have a fight because someone
thinks 72 is too cold and it is too hot for me even if I'm barely naked.

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baxtr
37-40 C is hot, granted. But, isn't this the temperature that places like
Bagdad, Northern India etc. endure every year for weeks?

~~~
mft_
Sure... but in hotter climates, clothing and buildings are better geared for
it - white for reflectivity, through-draughts, hard floors, etc. In northern
Europe housing is generally set up to cope with cold winters.

~~~
antisthenes
There are design patterns that are beneficial regardless of temperatures -
high thermal mass (smooth out the extremes), reversible blinds (black/white) -
control extra solar power coming into your home.

Besides, Europe is not such a small place either. Many houses in the South are
geared towards hotter weather and have the the features you described.

They also get notoriously cold in case there's a cold snap, since they aren't
insulated very well.

~~~
AstralStorm
These things are not free, you know. Especially thermal mass which requires
thick walls or essentially heat exchangers.

And solar is kind of hard to put on walls of a building you do not own.

~~~
antisthenes
I don't think I ever made the claim they were free. There's nothing free in
life, so making a statement like that is not really productive.

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abootstrapper
Odds are it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. Invest in long term
efficient cooling strategies.

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monk_e_boy
We’re due storms mid-week. So that’ll be fun.

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olivermarks
Vintage Guardian headline

~~~
digikazi
That's true, it does sound a little over the top. But as somebody who has
experienced first-hand a European heatwave, I can honestly say at the time it
really _did_ feel like hell.

I am not a climatologist or a meteo guy, but I was lucky enough to be able to
have a career break in my early 30's. Just for the heck of it I studied
geography; my degree came with a heavy element of climate science. I think I
retained a fascination with heatwaves - not necessarily the "mechanics" of it,
but rather how people/societies live and adapt to them.

~~~
olivermarks
'...High humidity meant it would feel like 47C, experts warned. “El infierno
[hell] is coming,” tweeted the TV meteorologist Silvia Laplana in Spain, where
the AEMET weather service forecast temperatures of 42C by Thursday in the
Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys and warned of an “extreme risk”
of forest fires.'

Some South American style heat briefly affecting an area of Spain is
translated by the Guardian as ''Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins
across Europe'. This is irresponsible journalism and rather typical of their
negative sensationalism IMO. Don't underestimate the anxiety this can cause
people

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stuartd
Translated by the Guardian?! They are literally using a quote from a
meteorologist in one of the countries that will be affected.

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olivermarks
[https://twitter.com/slaplana_tve/status/1143038630144950273](https://twitter.com/slaplana_tve/status/1143038630144950273)

~~~
stuartd
Indeed. And “infierno” translates as “hell”

[http://www.spanishcentral.com/translate/infierno](http://www.spanishcentral.com/translate/infierno)

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singularity2001
India just had _weeks_ of 40-52°C, how dare we call some days of 35-40° a heat
wave?

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yladiz
FYI a heat wave is relative to the climate in which it occurs, not globally.

