OT: How do you cope with the heat? :(

[Mrious_be]

Just wondering, since i read that big parts of the US are struck by a heatwave also, just like the biggest part of Europe.
In Belgium we had our record today of 36C or 97F (official, so this means you can add some more to it).
It's bad and i don't think i could stand this to long
My head feels crushed by the heat alone and even my mac dvd player doesn't want to play anymore (he does read cd's, but no dvd's anymore... is it cause of the heat?).

How does everyone cope with it?
Belgium (and the rest of Europe) only begins to feel the benefit of having Airco installed.
Even stores don't always have them, and when they have them they are ill equiped and most of the time can not handle the amount of space that they have to cool down.
The only good thing that we seems to have is that our subway systems have a natural cooling system (have no idea how they do it, but it's really cool down there).

 

[Frances144]

We don't have it (ever), so never have to cope with it!

Sorry to be unhelpful, but the hottest it gets here is 20 degrees - not very hot really and we are part of the UK!

[gunug]

Right now in Topeka, Kansas where I work it's supposed to be 101º F (converting to 38.3333333º C ) and what I do is force water and I try to take as cold a shower as I can run when I get up and when I go to sleep in order to lower my core temperture.  I'm trying to adjust my duties so as to stay out of the non air conditioned buildings as much as possible.  


I hate it when this happens!

[Epaminondas]

It is 101 degrees F (38.3 C) here currently.

Considering the humidity and the  lack of wind, they say it feels more like 103.

How do we handle it?

We go shopping for cars!


I don't know why but she seems to be favouring lighter colours today.


One simple concept in regard to the heat: thirst lags need.

If you are in the heat, or if you are going to be in the heat, drink well before you feel that you need to.

People who succumb to heatstroke are generally those who did not adhere to this simple rule.

Note that even if well-hydrated, people can get still get heatstroke - particularly if overactive in the heat and/or obese.


Drink up -

Epaminondas

[Xairbusdriver]

1. Already forcing water/liquids because of the "stones", but trying to be even more proactive!
2. Try to do any outside work as early in the day as possible.
3. Keep plenty of water and sgade available for outside animals.
4. Try to park car in shade!
5. Stay inside.
6. Wear loose clothing, and little of it.
7. Do NOT shop for cars ( or anything else, OFF-line )! Those cars sitting on the paved lots are like a mobile kiln! :sweat: You can get second degree burns on your hand just opening the door! Ouch!

101° offcially at Elvis' house. Even with the breeze, it "feels like" 108°. Just in case you didn't feel 'warm' enough, the weather bureau kindly gives us a "Heat Index"!

[Frances144]

You poor, poor, melting people.

http://www.northisles-weather.co.uk/

[Epaminondas]

QUOTE

Try to park car in shade!

QUOTE

Do NOT shop for cars ( or anything else, OFF-line )!

Au contraire.

QUOTE

Those cars sitting on the paved lots are like a mobile kiln! You can get second degree burns on your hand just opening the door! Ouch!

First degree burns, AirBusDriver.  First degree burns

You really shouldn't exaggerate.

Nothing some ice and a little love won't cure in time.


We started off well hydrated to begin with - and we started off cool from the air conditioning in our car and from the air conditioning in the dealer's showroom.

The cars we were looking at - parked in full sunlight - were running only about 160 degrees Fahrenheit inside (71 degrees C) – give or take a bit.


Our routine was for Milady to jump inside and start-er-up - turn on the air-conditioning - then the salesman and I would both join her.

Ladys always go first.

Mama brought her sons up right!


Upon questioning, Milady seems to have come to a number of conclusions from the exercise:

(1) White/cream vehicles with light interiors are much cooler and more comfortable than any other colour vehicles she has encountered.

(2) Black and midnight blue vehicles and dark interiors are for the hopelessly insane.

(3) Even lighter colours, while cooler than dark colours, are significantly hotter than white/cream.

(4) For comfort, cloth beats the heck out of leather.


I could have told her these things in a moment - but I thought it best for her to puzzle it out for herself.

Girls learn so much better that way.


The best time to shop for a car is in the heat or in the cold - each tells a person about the sort of things he or she will experience with the car at its extremes.


Oh - no burns touching the door handles.  Complaints about the heat and a couple of yelps here and there when her bare leg touched a hot leather seat.  On the other hand - she does seem to have become much more modest about entering and leaving vehicles . . . ever so much more lady-like.  So it has been a good experience for her.

I have noticed that her dress - a light cotton thing - becomes plastered to her back by the time she exits at the end of each ride.

I confess that I have come to like the effect . . .


My job is to see that she maintains hydration and to ask the occasional question.

And to always – always - encourage.


Best regards,

Epaminondas

__________________________________________________

How hot was it?

It was so hot that planes coming in to land at Sky Harbor International Airport were buffeted by turbulence -  a result, a pilot said, of heat rising from the desert floor.

[Paddy]

The heat finally broke here today - phew! I love the summer, but day after day of 90+ degree weather, and eastern Massachusetts humidity is enough to take the stuffing out of you! We don't have AC, so if we've managed to get the house cool overnight (opening windows, running fans, running whole house fan which sucks air up into the attic) we close it down in the morning as soon as the temp. outdoors exceeds that indoors. That can help considerably - the house may be a good 10 degrees cooler than outside. Gets a bit stuffy though. We're lucky that we have a lot of trees, so the house is fairly shaded, which helps.

Today was glorious - topped out at about 80, much less humidity and sunny with a pleasant breeze.

[kimmer]

Sneakers and I moved, that's how we cope with the heat.  One year ago we were sweltering in 110-degree furnaces. Now we put on a light jacket and enjoy the light breeze and temps in the 60's. Ahhh

This afternoon we had to head inland. It was a reminder of what we moved from as it was 99 at 2pm, and climbing. We beat-foot it home as fast as our car could peddle.  

LOL @ Epaminondas' car shopping story. Back in 2004, Sneakers and I went car shopping - on a lark - in the 116-degree heat. I don't know why. I think we were suffering from heat burn out or something.

Anyhow, we sat in this lovely little VW Passat. Teal in color, beige leather interior. Seats were hot enough to burn one's backside. Sneakers started car, hit a/c, and salesman did his thing. I was playing around with buttons and such (the car has a bazillion of them), and turned one to "2" and asked the salesman what the button was for. He was new, but was sure that it was for the a/c. Well, I wanted all the cool air I could get, so I set it up to "3" and off we went on a test drive. Shortly, I am glistening with dew (I'm my mother's daughter and I don't sweat). Soon the back of my shirt is stuck to me, my hair is drenched, I'm feeling sick and Sneakers and the salesman are both blathering on about the GREAT a/c in the car. I thought they were both nuts, but one look at Sneakers showed me that he wasn't sweating.   The salesman appeared quite comfortable as well.

I was seriously thinking I might be having a heart attack or something. We finally got back to the dealer and I was out of the car faster than a jack rabbit. I flew inside and had glass after glass after glass of water. When Sneakers came in, I said no way were we buying that car -- the a/c was junk on the passengers side and I wasn't about to be that miserable all summer.

Okay. He was disappointed, but salesman said give him a minute and he'd have service check it out.

Of course, y'all have probably figured out by now that the button I turned on was the heater for seat, and while that a/c was cranking full bore, and the temp outside was that balmy 116, I had the seat set for toasty warm and was literally baking myself.  

It's funny now, but it wasn't funny then.  We bought the car, and I must admit, here on the central coast of Oregon I sure do enjoy that heated seat. HAHAHA!

[Paddy]

The minute I saw that you had posted to this thread, Kimmer, I knew what you were going to say - "I moved to the Oregon coast!"

Actually, even the Willamette Valley (Corvallis) is much more bearable in the summer than MA. Even though it can go to 100 during the day in a heatwave, it ALWAYS cools off at night - the wind comes up at 5 p.m. or so, and the temperature drops 30 degrees or so. And it's nowhere near as humid as MA! I loved OR in the summer, and even the gray winters didn't bother me that much - not when the roses were still bloomng in November (December one year!) and the camellias started up at the end of January - to be followed by 6 weeks of glorious daffodils. Nothing like the blink-and-you-miss-it spring we so often get here in the northeast.

[RHPConsult]

QUOTE

First degree burns, AirBusDriver. First degree burns

Have you ever worked in, say, Phoenix in mid-August, Epaminondas?  

If so, weren't you just a tad curious why most of the locals have kitchen pot holders attached to their key chains for the unfortunate circumstance of having had their cards parked in the open during mid-day hours.

I recall "resting" in the shade of a 8" light standard, for a moment, during a walk between the two terminals at Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport,  TEMP = 114 degF.

   

But, of course, I was younger then!  

[Highmac]

Nuneaton was up to 35C/96F yesterday; today's forecast is for a much more bearable 27C/81F max. Personally I coped yesterday by keeping the house shut up and spending far more time on here and other forums than I should have... Marcel and I bumped into each other elsewhere a couple of times

Frances: considering how small our island kingdom is, it's remarkable how varied the weather can be. Multimap puts Lerwick at 760 miles from Nuneaton; the 27 hours travel time it estimates of course includes 17 hours on the ferry from Scrabster. That's only 10mph - presumably it has to  serve several Orkney and Shetland islands on the way?

I love Multimap: Instruction No 36 says Board Ferry for 169.2miles at 01.09 followed immediately by a message: "That's around 2 hours of driving, it's time for a break. Be sure to find a safe place to stop".

Hello!!! WE'RE STUCK ON A FERRY FOR 17 HOURS...

Hottest Caroline and I ever experienced was on Rhodes a couple of years back when it officially hit 45C/113F. Beautiful island, but we're not going back there in July again

Epaminondas: Sounds like you're actually enjoying searching for a car... must be the effects of the heat

[jcarter]

Its even hot here on Cape Cod, so we head for our beach and swim.  But we have had some of the more nasty jellyfish come in towards the beaches recently.
Biking is done early in the morning.  And an evening walk is nice too.
We dont do much in the way of work in the middle of the day, or at least for very long.
Or being out in an unshaded boat for very long.
Nice lightning storms recently!  

Or our shady back yard with a tall glass of iced tea.  Its hot upstairs where the sun hits the house, but we havent bothered with the AC yet.
Our cat heads for the cellar which is very cool and comfortable, with the dehumid machine running.  We leave the door open for him.

With the unusual record setting rainfall that we have had in the last 6 weeks, our flower gardens are spectacular.  Just hanging out in our gardens is great.
How about joining us and our grandkids for a water-fight in the back yard, with our water cannons?  Even the dogs join in for a while.  Fill up the dog's plastic wading tubs and have at it.

The local grocery stores sure have their AC on way too cold for me anyway.
Thats whats going on around here.

We are waiting for a tropical storm to brush our coast soon, Beryl.  High surf and rain, and winds perhaps up to 60K.  
Jane

[Gregg]

...and: Keep air conditioner on, fan running constantly, not just when A/C kicks in. Stay inside in the middle of the day. Keep window shades down. Insulate your home.

[gunug]

I was watching this story on the Kansas City television news last night about a rescue on the top of a water tower under construction:

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9544070/detail.html

"Firefighters said the temperature on top of the tower was about 125 degrees."

OUCH!