At least 18 people died in France, including two children left in a hot car, as a heat wave gripped Europe and smashed temperature records in several cities Monday.
As schools in France closed or modified their schedules, forecasters in Britain predicted temperatures could break June records this week.
The temperature in Bordeaux in France’s western wine country rose to 41.9 C, breaking a record set last August. In Poitiers, in central France, it reached 41.2 C, surpassing a previous high set in 1947.
It’s also the buildings.
I live in Sweden. My flat was built in the 60s, and it’s made to retain heat. It was part of the million programme and is incredibly sturdy. I half joke it’d survive a nuclear bomb, but it very well might. There’s even a shelter.
Past few days we’ve had temps going up to around 27. That’s not too bad if you’re outside. In my flat however the temps easily rise to 32, and has even hit 35. Opening a window helps a little, but the entire building heats up and retains this heat.
While it gets cooler outside during the night, the building is still radiating heat, and it doesn’t fully dissipate come morning. I have a portable AC, and while it works well, the moment you turn it off the heat that remains in the walls, ceiling, and floor quickly radiates out and completely nullifies the efforts of the AC.
Many places in the U.S. has the complete opposite problem. Like this example.
It’s not about people being wimps, it’s about the climate changing in fairly chaotic and extreme ways, and our adaptations to protect against the weather simply not keeping up.