(Way OT) How bad is the heat wave in Europe?

[William Ronald]

The heat wave is pretty remarkable for Europe. I have seen several bad heat waves in Chicago. The one in 1995 resulted in several hundred deaths.

Perhaps some good might come out of the current heat wave. At least people will have a better idea how to prepare for future ones. (Light clothing and lots of water are some of the ways I stay cool in the summer. And ice cream.)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

According to what I am hearing and reading (and viewing online) the heat wave in Europe is on the wane.

My sympathies to all of you who were caught in it.
Morrus, I'm glad things are back to normal over there.

 

[LcKedovan]

I live in Munich, and the heat here is unbearable. I usually spend the mornings at some lake (thankfully, there are plenty of those 'round here) and in the evenings I go to a beer garden.

The problem is that I don't sleep very well in this heat. the apartment building I live in is made of concrete- that stuff simply stores the heat of the day...

Fans are sold out all over germany, the nuclear power plants have to reduce their engergy output because the cooling becomes difficult, and, because of the high energy prices and the usually low demand, air conditioning is rare and expensive.

I'm just not ready for this heat. I have work to do and I have to adher to deadlines - but it's just too hot to work.

When I bought a kebap the other day I had a chat with the turkish shop assistant - even he complained about the heat: apparently, the air here in Munich is more humid than in Turkey, thus the subjective temperature is even higher than the numbers suggest (up to 40 degrees Celsius).
The Isar-river is running low on water, and the quality of its water is deteriorating - you shouldn't bath in it, anymore.
Thankfully, the lakes are still okay, there is enough drinking/tab water, and, thanks to the environmentally conscious industry, there is not too much ozone in the air...
and I have a steady support of cold beer, which helps me through the day...

Hey Tassander, which part of München?. Oddly enough Tassander's description fits how I would describe the problem here exactly. I did manage to find a place with a larger fan, but at a price tag of over 74€ (almost the same price in $) I balked. Last night it rained however, and today is overcast. Temperature has dropped under 30 overnight, though might climb again. nice to get some relief and I actually ended up with a good night sleep finally.

-Will

 

[tassander]

Hey Tassander, which part of München?. Oddly enough Tassander's description fits how I would describe the problem here exactly. I did manage to find a place with a larger fan, but at a price tag of over 74€ (almost the same price in $) I balked. Last night it rained however, and today is overcast. Temperature has dropped under 30 overnight, though might climb again. nice to get some relief and I actually ended up with a good night sleep finally.

-Will

It's raining! oh my god... it's raining!

Hi Will! I live in Schwabing, near Petuelring (about 200m from the BMW-tower). What about you?

tas.

 

[Krieg]

Just to put the "insufferable european heat" into perspective...yesterday it was 150 F in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Re: Re: NO POLITICS

Everything is political.

Really - even hot weather has political implications, because it has physical effects. I think EN World would be better off with a policy banning all off-topic conversation than allowing 'non political' conversation. Hm, I guess questioning the EN World rules is political.

If you really want to bring it up, take it to Meta.

This thread never had to go political--all it really was meant for was to let people talk about the weather in their part of the world. There was never any need to talk about media bias in reporting the weather, nor root causes of the weather, nor anything else bordering on political subjects.

If you want to call questioning the EN World rules political, that's your prerogative. Several of the rules are absolute--the grandma rules, politics and religion rules. OT posts are not going to be banned any time soon. The standard rule of thumb that if you can only post to a thread with something snarky, then maybe you should just leave that thread alone is a good one.

 

[johnsemlak]

This thread never had to go political--

There goes my faith in the weather being the safest non-controversial topic of discussion

 

[Rasmus]

I've just read that they estimate that about 3000 died in france, directly or indirectly from the heat.
I wonder how many died in all of Europe??

 

[Zogg]

I've just read that they estimate that about 3000 died in france, directly or indirectly from the heat.
I wonder how many died in all of Europe??

Most of the deaths were just really old people that were at death's door anyway - as you can see from this quote:

"Up to 3,000 cases is plausible, primarily of old people or the very weakened, for which heat would have precipitated the death."

Which just illustrates the beauty of my earlier post. It all goes back to population control!!

EDIT: By the way, those 3,000 deaths actually only represent a 37% increase over the same time period from a year ago. As you can see from this quote:

"General Funeral Services told the ministry it handled 3,230 deaths across the country from August 6-12, a 37 percent increase over the same period last year."

So before we all freak out, just remember that people are always dying. It's just that a third more die in extreme heat.

 

[Dark Dragon]

The heat wave in germany is over. At least here in Münster it ended without thunderstorms, the temperatures went down to 25 °C, a moderate wind blows from western directions and some fine-weather clouds in a blue sky. Oh, and a few drops of water have reached the ground yesterday evening. Actually, I wouldn't call it rain...