European Heat Wave

[Cachoo]

I hope all here who are weathering this heat wave are ok. The reports of people who have died in Spain and France is sad and concerning. Here is a pictoral feature from the New York Times:

See Record-Breaking Extreme Heat Wave Across Europe in Photos

Temperature records were broken in several European countries on Wednesday.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Buzz]

The heatwave here is up there as well. It feels like 41 C right now. Wanted to take a walk but too hot!

 

[Winnipeg]

June weather in Winnipeg has been very rainy/stormy with many risks of tornados around the province. Not a great month for weather here.................although I have to admit, I do not envy the heatwave folks in Europe and elsewhere.

 

[Buzz]

Just checked the weather and with the humidity it feels like 45…

 

[Buzz]

It feels like “only” 34 right now! LOL

 

[Cachoo]

I was not able to copy the article but multiple sources are reporting that the death rate in France went up 29% during the heatwave.

 

[Buzz]

Oh my bad… With the humidity right now it feels like 41

 

[skategal]

It feels like “only” 34 right now! LOL

We have 33 feels like 43 here in Halifax today! ugh.

Even the wind off the ocean is hot today. It's like being in an air fryer. LOL.

 

[Vagabond]

It's been too hot for this tender Bay Area native.


It was 95° in Oxford, which has three watercourses (two rivers and a canal) and virtually no buildings that have adequate cooling. I spent much of my spare time there in wooded nature preserves around the edges of the city.

The temperatures have reached the high eighties here in London, which is somewhat less humid than Oxford and sometimes has a breeze coming off the river. Unfortunately, the breeze brings higher grass pollen levels that have set off an allergy I didn't know I had.

This trip has had many good points, but the weather hasn't been one of them. I am looking forward to getting back to my cool, foggy hometown.

 

[text_skate]

I was not able to copy the article but multiple sources are reporting that the death rate in France went up 29% during the heatwave.

In numbers: 2,025 deaths from June 22 to 28

Point de situation sur la mortalité toutes causes confondues sur la période du 22 au 28 juin 2026 | Santé publique France

www.santepubliquefrance.fr

An increase of +29.1%, corresponding to 2,025 additional deaths compared to the previous week (8,973 deaths of all ages and all causes were recorded during the week of June 22 to 28, 2026 compared to 6,948 the week of June 15 as of June 21)

 

[taz'smum]

Our third heatwave is about to begin in Lyon.

We've not had time to recover from the end of the June killer heatwave when it was 38-40c in the day and didn't drop below 26c-27c at night.

Everyone is sleep-deprived and physically/mentally exhausted.

The apartment walls are still so hot, even a moderate heatwave is going to make them unbearable.

Fortunately, I'm off to Cardiff for 2 weeks, so should miss this heatwave at least.

 

[skategal]

Day 2 of the heatwave in Halifax.

One of our portable AC units decided to malfunction.

Thank God we have a basement and an upstairs A/C unit.

Huge power outage in the area last night didn’t help. We kept our power so hosted the ILs until midnight when their power came back.

DS was supposed to do outdoor tennis practice yesterday (2 hours) but we said “no way.”

They have the space to have it indoor. Not sure why they want to torture the kids.

I have a feeling there will be complaints about that (rightfully so.)

We don’t complain…we just nope out.

 

[Icetalavista]

It's been too hot for this tender Bay Area native.


It was 95° in Oxford, which has three watercourses (two rivers and a canal) and virtually no buildings that have adequate cooling. I spent much of my spare time there in wooded nature preserves around the edges of the city.

The temperatures have reached the high eighties here in London, which is somewhat less humid than Oxford and sometimes has a breeze coming off the river. Unfortunately, the breeze brings higher grass pollen levels that have set off an allergy I didn't know I had.

This trip has had many good points, but the weather hasn't been one of them. I am looking forward to getting back to my cool, foggy hometown.

Smart to head to the woods

 

[Cachoo]

Our third heatwave is about to begin in Lyon.

We've not had time to recover from the end of the June killer heatwave when it was 38-40c in the day and didn't drop below 26c-27c at night.

Everyone is sleep-deprived and physically/mentally exhausted.

The apartment walls are still so hot, even a moderate heatwave is going to make them unbearable.

Fortunately, I'm off to Cardiff for 2 weeks, so should miss this heatwave at least.

So glad you are able to leave. Even with air conditioning there was an exceptionally brutal heatwave in Chicago years ago and I remember refrigerated trucks being used to store the victims because they ran out of room in the morgues. We only have so much room in the homeless shelters here and we receive so many calls especially during heatwaves. Besides cooling centers sometimes city busses will let people ride free all day and the unhoused will spend their day resting on the bus. It is not a great way to solve a problem but at least it is something.

 

[Private Citizen]

Unfortunately, the breeze brings higher grass pollen levels that have set off an allergy I didn't know I had.

The pollen count has been really, really bad for the past 3-4 days. My seasonal allergies largely went away when I moved to the UK, but they've been back with a vengeance for the past few days.

Our third heatwave is about to begin in Lyon.

We've not had time to recover from the end of the June killer heatwave when it was 38-40c in the day and didn't drop below 26c-27c at night.

Everyone is sleep-deprived and physically/mentally exhausted.

The apartment walls are still so hot, even a moderate heatwave is going to make them unbearable.

Not sure North Americans fully realize how European (especially UK) construction is built to retain heat. It's still 30 degrees in my house. It takes weeks for buildings to cool down. Newer construction is especially bad. These super energy efficient homes become tinder boxes in the heat.

It's heating up again in London, but at least the night time temps will drop into the teens (60s F). Windows open at night / blinds closed during the day will hopefully keep things from getting too much worse.

25 days until my illegal air conditioning goes in.

 

[PRlady]

It’s nice and cool in Scotland, in the 60s. It was nice and cool in York, too, but the heat effect in UK buildings that PC describes made our hotel room too warm since we arrived right after heat wave. Window open plus two fans made it bearable to sleep.

 

[taz'smum]

The pollen count has been really, really bad for the past 3-4 days. My seasonal allergies largely went away when I moved to the UK, but they've been back with a vengeance for the past few days.



Not sure North Americans fully realize how European (especially UK) construction is built to retain heat. It's still 30 degrees in my house. It takes weeks for buildings to cool down. Newer construction is especially bad. These super energy efficient homes become tinder boxes in the heat.

It's heating up again in London, but at least the night time temps will drop into the teens (60s F). Windows open at night / blinds closed during the day will hopefully keep things from getting too much worse.

25 days until my illegal air conditioning goes in.

Why is your air conditioning illegal? I thought it was only in France that it was difficult to get permission to install air conditioning if you don't have a balcony to put it on. Getting permission to put it on the facade is ni-on impossible here.

 

[Cachoo]

The pollen count has been really, really bad for the past 3-4 days. My seasonal allergies largely went away when I moved to the UK, but they've been back with a vengeance for the past few days.



Not sure North Americans fully realize how European (especially UK) construction is built to retain heat. It's still 30 degrees in my house. It takes weeks for buildings to cool down. Newer construction is especially bad. These super energy efficient homes become tinder boxes in the heat.

It's heating up again in London, but at least the night time temps will drop into the teens (60s F). Windows open at night / blinds closed during the day will hopefully keep things from getting too much worse.

25 days until my illegal air conditioning goes in.

I now believe your summers are not so different than ours. I don't even enjoy my house when it is only 85 degrees out and I then turn the air on. I usually keep the house around 70 degrees. It will become unbearably hot at some point in July and August but again we have cool air inside. Even then I live like a mole in a darkened house. I met a woman from my hometown who moved to Winter Park and opened a small restaurant that served breakfast...windows all over with busy hummingbird feeders all around. She said she would live like a bat in the summer when she was here and she needed sunlight and could put up with all of the snow. Beautiful place.

 

[PRlady]

As a fellow summer bat I empathize. DH knows I’ll go on a walk in January, down to 20F or so, but won’t budge outside in July except for swimming.

If A/C hasn’t been invented, I would have moved to Canada decades ago.

 

[Private Citizen]

Why is your air conditioning illegal? I thought it was only in France that it was difficult to get permission to install air conditioning if you don't have a balcony to put it on. Getting permission to put it on the facade is ni-on impossible here.

In Nice, we all have illegal air conditioners, usually mounted on rear facades that no one can see. Even the notaire said her air conditioner was illegal . It's apparently all good if you can prove it was there for six years? Let's hope so.

In London, I'm in a conservation area. Despite being a new contemporary home built in 2025 that looks nothing like the rest of the Edwardian homes in the area, the rules apply. I have to apply for permission, which would either be denied or drawn out for a very long due to net zero rules. Which is the same reason the developer couldn't install a/c when building the house and now leaves me with a complicated retrofit job on a brand new house, as opposed to a super-easy one .

Air conditioning is only allowed as a last resort, and you need to go through a ridiculous process of proving it's absolutely necessary. It sometimes helps if you live under a flight path, as I do. You are allowed to use "mechanical ventilation" if noise in bedrooms cannot be kept under 48 db with the window open, but I would need a sound test to prove that . And I'm on a secondary flight path and only get planes 1/3 of the time. And they may try to make me prove other ventilation methods would work. Plus, the room I need air conditioned is a living room.

The truly stupid thing is that the air conditioner I'm having installed is an A++ energy efficient one that works well, is quiet, and won't disturb anyone.

The alternative is a portable air conditioner -- which the council cannot ban. Energy inefficient, noisy, and doesn't work well with hoses hanging out of casement windows (sash windows were effectively banned here due to more net-zero nonsense).

I see these hoses hanging out of fully open windows all throughout my neighbourhood, and I think this is another misguided energy policy that will 1) kill people, while 2) resulting in more energy use. I'm sure the next government will try to ban portable a/c (while sitting in air conditioned offices).

Apparently, some of these super-energy efficient triple glazed windows have been exploding in the heat. Ah, yet another thing to worry about. My energy efficient heat pump was already fried by lightning in the freak hail and lightning storm we had. (Fortunately, replaced under warranty.)

 

[taz'smum]

In Nice, we all have illegal air conditioners, usually mounted on rear facades that no one can see. Even the notaire said her air conditioner was illegal . It's apparently all good if you can prove it was there for six years? Let's hope so.

In London, I'm in a conservation area. Despite being a new contemporary home built in 2025 that looks nothing like the rest of the Edwardian homes in the area, the rules apply. I have to apply for permission, which would either be denied or drawn out for a very long due to net zero rules. Which is the same reason the developer couldn't install a/c when building the house and now leaves me with a complicated retrofit job on a brand new house, as opposed to a super-easy one .

Air conditioning is only allowed as a last resort, and you need to go through a ridiculous process of proving it's absolutely necessary. It sometimes helps if you live under a flight path, as I do. You are allowed to use "mechanical ventilation" if noise in bedrooms cannot be kept under 48 db with the window open, but I would need a sound test to prove that . And I'm on a secondary flight path and only get planes 1/3 of the time. And they may try to make me prove other ventilation methods would work. Plus, the room I need air conditioned is a living room.

The truly stupid thing is that the air conditioner I'm having installed is an A++ energy efficient one that works well, is quiet, and won't disturb anyone.

The alternative is a portable air conditioner -- which the council cannot ban. Energy inefficient, noisy, and doesn't work well with hoses hanging out of casement windows (sash windows were effectively banned here due to more net-zero nonsense).

I see these hoses hanging out of fully open windows all throughout my neighbourhood, and I think this is another misguided energy policy that will 1) kill people, while 2) resulting in more energy use. I'm sure the next government will try to ban portable a/c (while sitting in air conditioned offices).

Apparently, some of these super-energy efficient triple glazed windows have been exploding in the heat. Ah, yet another thing to worry about. My energy efficient heat pump was already fried by lightning in the freak hail and lightning storm we had. (Fortunately, replaced under warranty.)

I use 2 portable A/C's. They work on my windows, as the external blinds come down to meet the A/C fitting/exhaust.
It just means you are in the dark if it is the only window.

It's too noisy to sleep with during the night. I usually just cool the bedroom so that I can fall asleep, then wake up about 4-5 hours later in a sweaty mess. The A/C cools it fine, but with the walls of the apartment being so hot, it is a race to fall asleep once I switch it off. In 30 mins it is back up to 31c+

 

[Cachoo]

As a fellow summer bat I empathize. DH knows I’ll go on a walk in January, down to 20F or so, but won’t budge outside in July except for swimming.

If A/C hasn’t been invented, I would have moved to Canada decades ago.

I'm with you on that. My aunt died of COPD, was on oxygen for years and did not do well in the heat. Her house was ice cold. But what about the people, here and abroad , without air, who are already struggling to breathe? How do Europeans with these illnesses manage?

 

[Private Citizen]

How do Europeans with these illnesses manage?

Quite seriously, they die. One of your original articles cited some numbers. Even in an ordinary year, there are more deaths from lack of air conditioning in Europe than from gun violence in the US.

With energy efficiency improvements, clean electricity, etc., there is simply no reason to continue to be as dogmatic as many governments are.

 

[morqet]

The irony of a seven paragraph rant about "net zero nonsense" prompted by a record breaking climate change driven heatwave

We need to get much better at climate mitigation - aircon is part of that, but the National Model Design Code in the new planning framework should be making it much easier to add external shutters or shading to properties to limit solar gain in the first place. And we need to keep cutting down carbon emissions from everything, or in 50 years time even aircon won't been sufficient to get us through summers.

 

[taz'smum]

I'm with you on that. My aunt died of COPD, was on oxygen for years and did not do well in the heat. Her house was ice cold. But what about the people, here and abroad , without air, who are already struggling to breathe? How do Europeans with these illnesses manage?

I have bilateral bronchiecstasis and I don't really have a problem with the heat.
I do have a problem with the pollution that goes with the heat in that respect.
I have an air purifier for that.

 

[Private Citizen]

The irony of a seven paragraph rant about "net zero nonsense" prompted by a record breaking climate change driven heatwave

We need to get much better at climate mitigation - aircon is part of that, but the National Model Design Code in the new planning framework should be making it much easier to add external shutters or shading to properties to limit solar gain in the first place. And we need to keep cutting down carbon emissions from everything, or in 50 years time even aircon won't been sufficient to get us through summers.

Even the worst of the climate projections have the UK seeing 45 degree temperatures in 50 years. Air conditioning can and does handle those temperatures routinely in other parts of the world, and the systems are getting more and more efficient.

The government's current "net zero" proposition is asking people to replace a £5k gas boiler with a £25k heat pump that doesn't work as well, costs £100/more a month to run, and often requires £25k-50k additional expense to retrofit. For all that hassle, you may -- with a lot of effort -- be able to get a rebate of a couple thousand pounds. The heat pumps the government is pushing work on water rather than air, so they cannot accommodate real air conditioning -- only a cooling floor, which is inadequate in 30+ degree temperatures. Gee, is it any wonder why we have the lowest adoption of heat pumps in Europe?

Change the narrative to "get a heat pump, and you can get air conditioning with it," and I bet adoption would go up. Way up. And emissions would go down. The 10 days of air conditioning we need a year would be more than offset by cleaner heating.

We have to stop approaching this from a dogmatic nanny state perspective, wagging fingers at people who have the audacious desire not to suffer or die in the heat. Give people a reason to adopt green techology. Pay (a lot) more upfront to do a big construction project only to pay more monthly for worse performance is not a winning argument.

 

[skategal]

As a fellow summer bat I empathize. DH knows I’ll go on a walk in January, down to 20F or so, but won’t budge outside in July except for swimming.

If A/C hasn’t been invented, I would have moved to Canada decades ago.

You would have to live in Newfoundland or way up North. Those are the only places in Canada now that routinely do not need A/C.

 

[PRlady]

Ha. We were in St John NF for the yearly heat wave and could have used A/C.

 

[allezfred]

Even in an ordinary year, there are more deaths from lack of air conditioning in Europe than from gun violence in the US.

Heat-related deaths are not the same thing as “deaths from lack of air conditioning” and the last few years have not been ordinary in Europe. Every single home in Europe installing air conditioning is a short term fix and will only make the problem worse.

 

[taz'smum]

Heat-related deaths are not the same thing as “deaths from lack of air conditioning” and the last few years have not been ordinary in Europe. Every single home in Europe installing air conditioning is a short term fix and will only make the problem worse.

Everyone knows it's just a short-term fix but what else can you do to survive?

Lyon council has done an incredible amount to make Lyon greener and has managed to reduce the pollution quite a bit but it is a drop in the ocean of what needs to be done to make it liveable.

They've planted 10s of thousands of trees and added greenery wherever the can. They've made Lyon very car-unfriendly by pedestianising many roads, changing some lanes of traffic into extensive cycle lane networks, changing other lanes into bus/taxi only lanes. They've improved the frequency of public transport, built new tramlines/extended metro lines and added electric buses/trams.

I'm very proud of Lyon for what has been done, but it has done little to solve the extreme heat problem this summer.
Everyone is in shock.

Without air conditioning, you are just surviving in Lyon, the heatwaves stop normal life. People are sleep-deprived and heat-exhausted. Nights where it doesn't drop below 26c/27c are unbearable, especially when it lasts for 2 weeks at a time with little respite between heatwaves. You know it is bad when you start to feel that 34c in the day and 22c at night is cool!.

And now Lyon has a third heatwave in progress, only a week after the last killer-heatwave ended.

I'm also not convinced the official figures of how many have died are accurate. I can't see how old people without air conditioning are surviving.

Sorry for the rant. I understand how it must look from the outside, but you will do whatever you can to survive. it is no longer about being a bit uncomfortable, it is literally becoming unliveable. God help us in 5 years time.