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Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

lse.ac.uk

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Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#21

Post by weightedreply »

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

We need a humidity comparison to go with temperature.

I grew up in a humid city and summers were unbearable. Now I live in a dry climate and 30°C is pretty comfortable.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#22

Post by wil421 »

winstonp wrote: post #7
shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

the British are notoriously sensitive to heat. They'll call 30 Celsius weather a heat wave.

That’s normal where I live in the Southeast US from late May to late September. Plus 60-99% humidity, I can see the air in the mornings.

There’s something about 85F/30C and 80%+ humidity that prevents the temp from going much higher for a longer period of time.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#23

Post by ornornor »

jorl17 wrote: post #11
winstonp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the British are notoriously sensitive to heat. They'll call 30 Celsius weather a heat wave.

I'm from Portugal and I start losing it at 25. 30 degrees is insane. Last summer my house got to 39, and I didn't have AC (it was broken). I think I'm still recovering.

I had 40 Celsius today at around 9pm. Middle of the night now and it’s 34. It’s as cool as it’s going to get before it starts heating up again tomorrow. Where I live there are no laws on max temperature in residential housing so the owner (I’m renting) doesn’t have to do anything about it. Never mind the poorly insulated, black slate roof (I’m on the last floor) or lack of AC (I’d have to foot the bill anyway).

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#24

Post by anthk »

lwansbrough wrote: post #9

Europeans don’t get scolded enough for their resistance to air conditioning. In terms of accounting for preventable deaths, Greece has 2x more heat-related deaths per capita annually than Mississippi has gun deaths. By comparison, the worst US state for heat related deaths, Nevada - a literal desert - has >10x fewer deaths per capita than Greece.

Some buildings in Southern Europe have thick as hell walls which isolate from both heat and cold (the North can be really chilly near the Atlantic, and freezing away from the Mediterranean).

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#25

Post by anthk »

boc wrote: post #19
FacelessJim wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans don’t get scolded enough for their abuse of AC. In terms of accounting for preventable waste of energy, US guzzles more electricity on cooling than most countries do on everything else.

Are you going to also scold Americans for using heat in the winter? Our continent has more extreme weather than Europe... we've adapted accordingly because we value human lives. Have you?

Spain's continental climate has both subzero Winters and scorching Summers.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#26

Post by maxerickson »

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

Humidity makes a big difference in how stressful the temperature is (wet bulb temperature accounts for this somewhat). The age of the attendees and the tendency of the building to heat would also be factors.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#27

Post by anthk »

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

40C in the Atlantic Spain with the Foehn effect (weather for today and tomorrow) would make 30C in Australia a joke.

The humidity here it's hell. You feel 35C like ~42C in dry climates.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#29

Post by golemiprague »

winstonp wrote: post #7
shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

the British are notoriously sensitive to heat. They'll call 30 Celsius weather a heat wave.

[dead]

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#30

Post by boc »

anthk wrote: post #25
boc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you going to also scold Americans for using heat in the winter? Our continent has more extreme weather than Europe... we've adapted accordingly because we value human lives. Have you?

Spain's continental climate has both subzero Winters and scorching Summers.

And they had 101 people die of heat-related issues last month. [1] 3,832 Spaniards died in 2025 alone from heat. In 2022, 4,789 died, the all-time high.

The entire United States had 2,325 heat-related deaths in 2023, which is the all-time high.

Do the math (US pop 340M vs Spain 49M) and it gets really ugly.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/spain-records-h...

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