Weather WTF

[HVC]

Were getting in the 40s c with humidity this week. Wonder how the brits would take it

[Tamas]

I am telling ya maybe it is my acclimatisation but 28 can feel like a proper heatwave on this island I don't know why.

[Syt]

We're getting several 32°C days next week. 15 years ago that would have been unusual, these days it's become quite normal here. 

[HVC]

I am telling ya maybe it is my acclimatisation but 28 can feel like a proper heatwave on this island I don't know why.

How hot did your area of hungary get?

[Sheilbh]

Were getting in the 40s c with humidity this week. Wonder how the brits would take it

I think just over 40 is the peak temperature ever we've had.

It's currently about 5 degrees cooler than average for this time of year- it's about 15 degrees most days. Plus it's been an unusually wet year. I don't think I really get SADS but definitely feeling something this summer.

I am telling ya maybe it is my acclimatisation but 28 can feel like a proper heatwave on this island I don't know why.

I kind of agree and I don't know why. If I'm on holiday or overseas then high twenties to low thirties is my ideal temperature. It's great.

In the UK low to mid twenties, pls. I assume it's because all of our built environment is designed for a very narrow range of "temperate" weather, but I'm not sure that's all of it. Maybe humidity, but I don't really understand that - but I feel like basically there is no heat in the UK that is not humid

[HVC]

You guys also complain about cold weather that's not really cold. I just think you're all weak, weather wise

[Sheilbh]

You guys also complain about cold weather that's not really cold. I just think you're all weak, weather wise

This is fair. We're used to a very narrow range of very temperate weather.

Problem is that is also reflected in our built environment which is not very good at keeping the cold out in winter or the heat out in summer if either of those seasons are even slightly outside that very narrow range

Although I'd also say that "heatwave" isn't necessarily seen as negative here - which is starting to shift because climate change. Generally heatwaves are broadly reported as good things - get in a beer, go to the beach, have an ice cream sort of thing. There was a change (and a bit of a campaign) during the last (real) heatwave when we hit 40 degrees of a need for the press to start reporting on it as a bit more of a negative, plus tips on how to keep cool because there's a public health risk, especially for the elderly.

[HVC]

Colds always a funny one. You can conceptualize hot. Almost everyone lives somewhere where it gets really hot at sometime in the year. But hard to get across how cold it can get in canada. Imagine stepping into your freezer to warm up

*edit* And ontario isn't even out coldest province

[Richard Hakluyt]

Last time I lived in Newcastle I had a friend from Quebec. That summer she laughed at us for saying that winters in Newcastle could feel pretty chilly. Sure enough when winter came she moaned constantly about the cold 

The problem, I think, is that in Quebec if you don't take the cold seriously you die; in England you just get slightly uncomfortable and think "I'll pop into that pub and warm ny feet by the fire whilst having a pint".

The following year I was in Canada at the end of March and there was very variable weather including some significant snow. I remember waking at the apartment we were staying at in Hull, blissfully unaware that the weather had turned overnight and there was a foot of snow outside....that flat was so well insulated.

[Tamas]

I am telling ya maybe it is my acclimatisation but 28 can feel like a proper heatwave on this island I don't know why.

How hot did your area of hungary get?

Around 30C during summer was fairly regular as I  recall although it'd rarely go 35C or above. Then again in recent years there have been instances of 38-40C.

I think with climate change the desertification and mediterraneanisation of Hungary is well underway.

[Josquius]

It's absolutely the case that British extremes feel a lot worse than they are on paper. And it's not just down to dressing for it et al.
I think it's humidity and wind.
I find a cold day here, hovering around 0,is far worse than the - 10s we got in Sweden.

There could also be something psychological top with our cold being grey and shit rather than bright white and lovely.

On the other extreme yep. Heat in Britain is a lot more unbearable. I'd probably blame our houses not being built for it. Cold in Japan is similar.

[Sheilbh]

On the other extreme yep. Heat in Britain is a lot more unbearable. I'd probably blame our houses not being built for it. Cold in Japan is similar.

"So your buildings actively hold the heat in?"
"Yes."
"Well they must stay warm in winter then?"
"Oh God, no."

[Barrister]

Colds always a funny one. You can conceptualize hot. Almost everyone lives somewhere where it gets really hot at sometime in the year. But hard to get across how cold it can get in canada. Imagine stepping into your freezer to warm up

*edit* And ontario isn't even out coldest province

Yeah - you have no idea how frigging WARM something like -10c can feel like after a lengthy stretch of -30 to -40c.  Like you feel like you can go out in your shorts.

Coldest I ever remember was -50c up in Peace River like 20+ years ago.  It was a Sunday.  I had to drive up to High Level for work the next day (which is getting pretty close to the NWT border).  I start my car, but one of the tires is flat - the cold caused it to lose it's seal.  I tried to change the tire - but I could only got out for 2-3 minutes at a time.  I dug out the instruction manual - but the plastic cover just shattered in my hands.

Eventually I got the tire changed and started on my way, butt thought to myself - "you know if my car breaks down again I'm a dead man..."  Thankfully I arrived safely.


On the other hand you can do the trick where you throw a cup of boiling water into the air and watch it immediately crystallize - so there's that.

[Valmy]

On the other extreme yep. Heat in Britain is a lot more unbearable. I'd probably blame our houses not being built for it. Cold in Japan is similar.

"So your buildings actively hold the heat in?"
"Yes."
"Well they must stay warm in winter then?"
"Oh God, no."

 

[Savonarola]

Yeah - you have no idea how frigging WARM something like -10c can feel like after a lengthy stretch of -30 to -40c.  Like you feel like you can go out in your shorts.

Coldest I ever remember was -50c up in Peace River like 20+ years ago.  It was a Sunday.  I had to drive up to High Level for work the next day (which is getting pretty close to the NWT border).  I start my car, but one of the tires is flat - the cold caused it to lose it's seal.  I tried to change the tire - but I could only got out for 2-3 minutes at a time.  I dug out the instruction manual - but the plastic cover just shattered in my hands.

Eventually I got the tire changed and started on my way, butt thought to myself - "you know if my car breaks down again I'm a dead man..."  Thankfully I arrived safely.


On the other hand you can do the trick where you throw a cup of boiling water into the air and watch it immediately crystallize - so there's that.

I've never been that cold, but my senior year in college Lake Superior froze over (which happens about once every 15 years or so.)  Michigan's Keweenaw is surrounded by Lake Superior on 3 sides, so it usually doesn't get that cold, but it does get an enormous amount of snow.  When the lake freezes the snow fizzles out, but it turns bitter cold and, like on the great plains, there's nothing to stop the wind.  So I'm walking home one night when the wind chill is -80 F (-60 C) and I see the pledges of Michigan Technological University's sole black fraternity marching through campus holding light bulbs over their head and chanting "Unity."  Initially I thought I had gone insane, like in a Jack London story, but my roommate was there and remembered it too.  No one does hazing quite like historic black fraternities.