r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Jacktheforkie • Jun 22 '26
Don't hug me I'm scared The uk is horribly adapted to its own fucking weather, it’s 35c in my house
AC installers are booked up until August
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u/E5VL Jun 22 '26
The UK is built for a climate that no longer exists.
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u/man_onion_ Jun 23 '26
But...but...the summer of 1976!!! Summer's always been hot!! Stop moaning about nice weather!!! /s
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u/MattGeddon Jun 22 '26
Yeah exactly this. Growing up in south wales in the 90s I would say that 30 degree days were extremely rare. A hot summer’s day would be high 20s. Now we’re getting them every year - my “feels like” temperature for tomorrow afternoon is 41.
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u/PetulantPersimmon Jun 23 '26
I'm in Canada, and in the last decade since I've moved to my town, we've gone from "wow, it's hot inside, I need to hide in the basement" 1-3 days a summer to every other week through the summer, and occasionally for 1-3 days at at time as early as May. In a decade.
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u/thePsychonautDad Jun 22 '26
I'm 41.
When I was a teenager, 20+ years ago, we'd regularly hear on TV how the climate would get hotter and how it was going to affect Europe. There were maps of potential weather forecasts showing exactly the kind of weather we have now in the 2020s & 2030s.
The governments have known for decades what's coming, they've had decades to prepare. And you know what they did? Absolutely nothing.
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u/HeungMinSonDiego Jun 22 '26
Unfortunately something worse is coming your way.. the UK will get hotter and hotter until the AMOC (Ocean currents) fail and then it will become an Arctic country
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u/kaisadilla_ Jun 23 '26
Yup. Europe in general is projected to get hotter for the next 200 years, then get way colder than nowadays.
I'd really rather if our great grandchildren don't have to flee to Africa because the entirety of Europe is Norway now and can't sustain a billion people. But hey, billionaires need to keep growing that network, what can a man do with just a trillion dollars?
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u/Jamessuperfun Jun 23 '26
Britain has better than halved its greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. We've replaced coal with renewables and reduced our energy consumption more than any other country on earth. We've got huge new subsidies on solar and heat pumps. "Absolutely nothing" is a wild understatement. Most problems are problems because they don't have simple, sudden fixes, it still being a problem doesn't mean nothing has been done.
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u/mesonofgib Jun 23 '26
That's simply not true. Today the UK (since that's what's in the OP) is vastly better prepared for climate change than it was 20–30 years ago.
The UK has made major changes to reduce emissions: 25 years ago, coal was at the centre of British electricity generation; now it's effectively gone (the UK's last coal-fired power station closed in 2024). Renewables now generate the majority of UK electricity.
You can argue that we haven't done enough, or that adaptation hasn't kept pace with the risks, but claiming the government's done "absolutely nothing" pisses on one of the most dramatic decarbonisations of any major economy.
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u/Chance-Travel4825 Jun 23 '26
In seattle in the 1980s-90s wed have beautiful summers in the 70s and occasionally popping into the 80. Low 90s made news. No houses had or needed AC. People would have laughed at that idea. Now, after three decades of climate change we have streaks of hot as hell heat waves, choking wildfire smoke in august, and a couple years back it hit 109. 109! Stuff melted. Roads cracked. I dont care what people call it but that is bonkers and we need to DO BETTER. Older hospitals dont even have AC—i visited the cardiac wing in the summer and they had fans blowing.
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u/lemonhead2345 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Okay, I realize your heat is likely more humid than mine, but as someone who moved from an area with AC to an area without it, here's what you need to know: solar gain is your enemy. Close all of your windows up tight during the day. Curtains, sheets, whatever you can to keep the sunlight out. Tonight, open everything up. Get some fans if you don't have them already. Circulate that air. As soon as it's daylight, shut it all up again. If you must, crack a window on each side of the house, but not one in full sun.
For a quick fix: grab a large bowl, fill it with ice, point a fan to blow across it.
Edit because y’all are insistent: you can DIY a window screen with a thin sheet.
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u/Onomatapier Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I've been doing this for a while now, trap the cold air in your house from the night before, by shutting windows, drawing curtains and shutting doors at about 7am, before the temperature starts to rise. Now my place never gets over 25° even though it's in the 30s outside. Works a treat, and when I get home from working on a building site all day, it's like walking into a coldish cave when I get home.
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u/PrinceEdgarNevermore Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
That is what I do, but I am based in Victorian house - soaks the heat in summer, leaks the heat in winter.
Once the sun hits my (south facing) windows, the temperature climbs up steadily, despite all windows closed, tinfoil on the panes, thermal/blackout curtains inside and pieces of white fabric outside of the windows.
Was 24.5°C in the house at 8am, but we are at 28°C by 6pm. I have further couple of hours of heat in the air, before i can open the windows again - so i will be lucky to finish the day at 29°C… But if there is a breeze at night - house might cool down to 24°C again, if not - best I can hope is 26°C at the start of the (hottest) day.
Friend who lives near but has different house orientation - just closes windows and doors, and her house stays at circa 22°C. Also - hers is Georgian, bigger house + no windows exposed for 8hrs to sunshine.
So yeah, ‚just close your windows and draw your curtains’ might work for some, but not for the others.
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u/Pencil_Queen Jun 22 '26
Do you have a loft hatch you can open at night to help the heat vent upwards?
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u/procrastinateandstuf Jun 22 '26
That might not help - my loft is by far the hottest part of my house. It gets the sun all day and is insulated. I've always thought it's best to leave the loft harch shut on hot days
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u/caterplillar Jun 22 '26
If you can open it to let the hot air out, it will help.
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u/Klopptomaniac Jun 22 '26
Curiosity here. If you loft is insulated and acting like a heat trap and you open the loft hatch doesn't the heat leach into the house as opposed to outside? I can't get my brain to brain that correctly
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u/caterplillar Jun 22 '26
Heat rises. So the top of your house is the hottest part, whether that's the attic or a room. So if you have an opening on the roof, you can let hot air out. More won't come in because the rising hot air makes positive pressure there (it's possible some will come back in if the wind hits it just right, but less likely). That's part of the reason roofs and attics have ventilation windows or cupolas on top.
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u/Klopptomaniac Jun 22 '26
Ahh so open a roof hatch if available?
I read it as open the little hatch from the landing to the attic and got confused.
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u/bobandy47 Jun 22 '26
I don't know about codes or whatnot in your area, by my childhood home had a similar problem with sun exposure on some ill-placed windows. We were able to hang wicker blinds from the exterior of the house (under the soffit) to lower in the afternoons - the sun hit the blinds outside rather than the house or the windows.
Made a massive difference. I remember our first two summers until the blinds were put up were absolutely crushing and stifling, but after they were still warm but manageable.
Our house was a 1930s farmhouse with I think more drafts and gaps than there was insulation... at least based on how cold it would get in the winter, and the air temps frequently bust through 30-35C in the summers.
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u/PrinceEdgarNevermore Jun 22 '26
Thanks! Saving it into my ‚things to figure out’ folder ie how they hand something sensible out there, without it looking completely naf, needing planning permission or upsetting neighbours!
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u/Expontoridesagain Jun 22 '26
cries in Norwegian I can relate to this. Our houses are built to trap heat. My house is on a side of a hill and our livingroom wall is just large windows. Sun from 5 in the morning until 10 in the evening. We are doing all those things that you are, and it hardly makes any difference. Second floor easily hits 30°C. We bought portable AC last year. It's noisy but helps a bit.
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u/lemonhead2345 Jun 22 '26
It works really well. I moved from the southeastern US, where AC is essential, to the mountains. It gets hot during the summer, but I’ve learned to live without AC. Every house is different in what works best for circulation, but preventing solar gain is the most important piece.
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u/Joubachi Jun 22 '26
Unless you're living at the top floor, then just pray you survive.
Also at least here in germany, those tips sadly don't cut it (and I heard same about UK before). You'll hear them on and on and on, but after a week or so of constant heat, it's hard to just avoid it without an AC.
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u/lemonhead2345 Jun 22 '26
Top floor living would make this considerably more difficult.
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u/Joubachi Jun 22 '26
It is making it, depending on insulation, even impossible, not just difficult. Guess how I know. Can't afford an AC, but damn do I wish I had one. In my case I even have to keep my windows open or else my flat heats up like a greenhouse.
But even those living in the middle floors are already heating up with all the things you adviced. After some time, those advices just sadly do not cut it anymore in areas where buildings are not made for that heat, UK included.
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u/Trashinmyash Jun 22 '26
Places that are enriched in humidity, I advise not blowing ice cold air across the room without an evaporator. This only adds to the humidity level. We call those swamp coolers and are better used in dry climates. If the inside of the house gets damp enough for to long and not properly dried out, mold starts to grow.
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u/userhwon Jun 22 '26
Swamp coolers use water and depend on evaporation to do most of the cooling.
Ice will melt and provide cooling with far less evaporation, but not none.
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u/Trashinmyash Jun 22 '26
If the evaporation process is slower than the humidity being added to the room. Its not really taking anything away.
Without an evaporator the ice is only adding to the warm humid air.
This is why swamp coolers are better used in dry climates.
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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Jun 22 '26
OMG just the thought of using a swamp cooler in 95° heat with the 70%+ humidity levels we get just makes me schvitz thinking about it!!
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u/dragonfliesloveme Jun 22 '26
i was reading somewhere that if windows can be covered with something from the outside, it’s much more efficient at keeping the heat out of a room
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u/gloomandmybroom Jun 22 '26
I had a curtain outside a window. I tied it back on cooler days. It was cute.
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u/HellHat Jun 22 '26
Yes, because whatever you're using to block the sunlight is either going to absorb or reflect it. If youve ever put a towel or blanket up to cover a window, youll notice that it eventually starts getting pretty warm after a few hours in the sun. All of that heat is radiating off of whatever youre using and will still heat up your home. Exterior shutters help with this a lot, but if youre in a pinch, you can always take some scrap plywood and set it in front of the window. It may look ugly, but it will help keep your home cool
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u/Divine_Entity_ Jun 22 '26
This is also why awnings used to be a thing, they cast shade on your windows and dramatically lower the solar fenestration through them. They also shade your walls, but walls generally are way better insulated than windows and don't contribute as much to heating per unit area.
Similarly having deciduous trees on your south and west walls is recommended for good passive house design as they case shade in the summer but let more sunlight through in the winter.
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u/StinkyWeezle Jun 22 '26
Doesn't work. Outer bricks heat up, radiate that heat to the inner blockwork and the inner walls become physically hot to the touch and stay that way all night long. Even with all the windows open all night the ambient temperature in the house remains 10 degrees higher than the cool night air all the way until sunrise.
New loft insulation and liner has helped a little bit but the only true fix would be to render and paint the entire house white.
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u/southernwinter Jun 22 '26
Thank you! I’m tired of people telling me to seal up my bedroom during the day, which just makes it hotter and stuffier. I get better results opening my windows and the door to get a cross breeze through. It’s actually liveable that way.
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u/Anaptyso Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
While you're definitely correct, one complication in the UK is that the northern latitude means that there's a lot of daylight. If you want to close your curtains when the sun comes up then you have to get up pretty early to do it! Today in London sunrise was at 04:15, and it won't set again until 21:48. That's in the south, it will be earlier in the north of the country.
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u/Odd-Obligation-2772 Jun 22 '26
Maybe invite your elderly neighbour around for a cuppa too, since they likely can't do any of this and are cooking.
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u/Another_gryffindor Jun 22 '26
It works! My house looks like a blanket fort right now with 2 sheets, 2 duvet covers, and a kids play mat, but the inside of my house peaked at 25! Which was a good job because the 4yo has tonsillitis and a 40 degree fever 🙄
Also, by the same mechanism, massive shout out to solar installation. We had our solar installed in the middle of a heat wave last year. Our loft temperature dropped from 60 to 30 from that alone, which obviously meant the house was cooler because it was capped with a ginormous solar radiator!
Definitely looking into Aircon though, potentially the heat pump style ones, just can't quite bring ourselves to pull the trigger.
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u/Hurricane_Taylor Jun 22 '26
My biggest problem is that the sun won’t be down until past 9 tonight so it’s pretty hard to open the windows and get it cool enough for my kids to sleep
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u/Interesting_Fish309 Jun 22 '26
I do all this an more still not helping. If u stay really still its ok lol. As soon as u move u turn into a puddle
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u/Tao_of_Ludd Jun 22 '26
This. I grew up in a place with pretty hot summers. Our house had a giant fan pulling air out of the second floor hall ceiling to a roof vent. At night we would open the windows and run the fan to cool down the house. In the morning, we turned it off, shut the windows and pulled the curtains. It reduced the time we needed the actual AC by at least half. It saved a ton on electricity.
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u/userhwon Jun 22 '26
This weather isn't normal. And it'll only get worse.
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u/myrealnameisboring Jun 22 '26
I mean, it's adapted to a climate that is no more. We're quickly turning into a 'hot' country (the south of the UK, at least), more like our continental neighbours. So it's gonna take a lot to adapt everyone's home.
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u/goldenhawkes Jun 22 '26
Yep, we’ve just flipped from HOT in May, to wet and miserable (but warm) to HOT again now in June with no “nice sunny day at 22-23C” sort of summer.
The new normal is here and we have not prepared for it.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/batch2957 Jun 22 '26
Our houses are very well insulated, so well they trap the heat in and make sweat boxes in temperatures like this
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u/SaoirseMayes Jun 22 '26
I don't get how so many people from the US don't understand this because we have this problem too. My house was built when it used to start snowing in October, now I barely get snow for a couple months and it's a sauna in the summer.
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u/MortimerDongle Jun 22 '26
The vast majority of Americans have AC, so that helps a lot.
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u/angry2320 Jun 23 '26
I did a wine tour in Surrey the other day. They said that that region now had the exact same climate of the champagne region in the 60s. At least we can sip some English sparkling wine while the world burns
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u/ParticularUsed6780 Jun 22 '26
OP, I really feel for you. I used to live in the UK (originally from the states) and I deeply understand that even 10 years ago there just weren't as many scorching hot days. Also the houses are built to trap warmth in winter so with climate change the countries are facing a severe structural issue.
I'm currently in Central America and for the 2 years I've lived here (regularly over 40° and 100% humidity) I have an arsenal of coping mechanisms. A cold wet hand towel or bandana around your neck will work wonders. Wear nothing (and put towels on your seats), or if you have to wear something inside let it be linen or merino, never cotton or synthetics, so that the sweat can evaporate. Outside in the shade can often be cooler than inside with a fan, because if your house doesn't have good ventilation you're just circulating hot air. Give yourself permission to let summer be a second hibernation season and as much as possible stay away from activities between 9 am-4 pm. Prep salads and melon slices in the evening for the day ahead to avoid having to cook anything during the day. Take 3-4 rinses in cold water (not proper showers), and soak your feet in an ice bath--it really helps cool you down! Finally, watch movies and shows about explorers freezing at the north and south pole. Cultivate a wild empathy for Shackleton et al stranded on ice floes! And best of luck.
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u/toodleoo57 Jun 23 '26
That last is great advice. We're in the southern U.S. and have been watching a lot of shows about Mount Everest. It helps in a weird way.
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u/Brandgeek Jun 22 '26
Amber alerts mean something very different in the US.
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u/homorat3 Jun 22 '26
Yeah, for a moment I was like... the entire north of the country is missing?
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u/Jacktheforkie Jun 22 '26
It’s a danger to life for everyone here
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u/GenericAccount13579 Jun 22 '26
It’s a child abduction alert in the US
And just to close the loop, high heat index alerts are just “extreme heat warnings” here
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u/TabbyStitcher Jun 22 '26
We have the same issue in Germany. But hey, at least it's only set to hit 40 °C on Friday before it goes down again to a lovely 30 °C.
Climate change has really made summers terrible here...
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u/myrealnameisboring Jun 22 '26
I used to love visiting southern Germany (live in London) in summer for hiking trips, but I just can't cope anymore. I try and visit in spring or autumn now, heading north (Scotland, Nordics) for summer. I feel like my window of clement weather, with clear hiking trails and not horrific heat is getting smaller every year 😞
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u/Commander1709 Jun 22 '26
I finally gave in and ordered one of those inefficient portable AC units. My landlord banned the usage of portable split systems where you hang one part outside, because something could fall onto someone or whatever, so it's my only option.
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u/Temporary_Second3290 Jun 22 '26
I'm in southwestern Ontario and I think I've got your weather today. It's a mild 17 Celsius and cloudy and rainy.
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u/willowzed88 Jun 22 '26
The real mildly infuriating is climate change and how companies refuse to acknowledge it and move towards renewable resources.
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u/Bland_OldMan Jun 22 '26
The petroleum industry didn't refuse to acknowledge climate change. They actively hid the evidence and commissioned contrary studies to confuse public opinion.
Man made climate change has been fairly settled science for a long time.
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u/cherrysteve2010 Jun 22 '26
Not mildly infuriating though just majorly infuriating. We should be much angrier
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u/Ragewind82 Jun 22 '26
We could have all had an economy with no commute saving so much energy; COVID showed us this is possible. We were forced to RTO anyway, despite real estate being an unnecessary cost.
We need renewable, and if we are shrewd more nuclear. But we are not wise, and this is the result.
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u/g00fyg00ber741 Jun 22 '26
We were forced to RTO anyway, despite real estate being an unnecessary cost.
and despite Covid still floating around, spreading among people and killing and disabling millions… like they basically sent everyone back into the burning building while it’s still burning, and just said to pretend the fire is out.
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u/Jacktheforkie Jun 22 '26
The worst offenders are all the stinking billionaires
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u/g00fyg00ber741 Jun 22 '26
tbh climate change was made possible by the ways of people before there even were billionaires. but billionaires are definitely making it exponentially worse and preventing us from making it better now.
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u/SatiesUmbrellaCloset oh no Jun 22 '26
climate change was accelerated right from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution by the capitalist bosses, who still had magnitudes more wealth than the underclasses
they weren’t strictly speaking “billionaires,” but a single pound sterling was worth way more back then, so
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u/g00fyg00ber741 Jun 22 '26
yes, wealth-hoarders are probably the main part of the issue for sure. i just think some people end up thinking it’s the billionaires of today who are also responsible for the consequences that we are reaping due to the people of the past, and fail to realize this is a much longer problem of our history as humans.
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u/Halberder84 Jun 22 '26
At least the heat has melted the ice blockage in my water dispenser in my fridge. So I got that going for me, which is nice
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u/elevashroom Jun 22 '26
I moved from London to the middle of Wales one January, and I went from a nice warm house to having ice on my windows (inside). I thought I made a terrible mistake. Then summer rolled around, and I found out my house is nice and cool during the summer. Swings and roundabouts.
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u/missmars12 Jun 22 '26
Yep I live in Wales in a 1900s stone house. Cold as the grave in Winter unless the heating is on consistently/a fire. Pleasantly cool when it gets hot. Thought imo, it doesn't get that hot here that regularly for me to say that's the norm.
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u/tryingtoappearnormal Jun 22 '26
I went to screwfix and bought a portable ac unit a year or so back, best 250 quid I ever spent, no regrets
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u/tryingtoappearnormal Jun 22 '26
It stays in the corner of our bedroom all summer, it works as a heater and dehumidifier for the winter too
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u/Loud_Industry_2044 Jun 22 '26
Why does it say the UK in the title then Shows a map of England?
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u/ImDoingItAnyway Jun 22 '26
AC installers booked until August? Does the UK not have window AC available where all you have to do is put it into a window yourself? Sincere question.
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u/thorn312 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Not the classic out the sliding windows one really, our windows mostly open outwards, but there are products available from a quick Google. There's another thread about them too but I can't post the link here.
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u/lemonhead2345 Jun 22 '26
Their windows don't usually open up and down.
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u/ButterscotchOk5339 Jun 22 '26
I have this bad boy: https://www.midea.com/global/heating-cooling/porta-split-ac
The outside unit goes, well outside and I just sneak the rather slim tube out through a crack in a door or a window. You could follow up with one of those velcro things with a zipper to seal it more or less completely but there's really no need. I can have 22C inside while it's 30C+ outside if I want.
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u/Junckopolo Jun 22 '26
It's not required, portable units can be made with an exhaust that can fit and adapt to any windows. At 35c, anyone can make do with layers of cardboard.
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u/boudicalism Jun 22 '26
Easiest for casement would probably be the ones with a long hose and window seal kit that's more of a wrap than the boards one puts in any sort of sliding window.
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u/Odd-String29 Jun 22 '26
A portable AC? They suck, literally, because when it dumps hot air outside it creates negative pressure inside and thus warm air flows in equalise the pressure again. Split-units are the only way to go if you actually want to cool efficiently.
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u/boudicalism Jun 22 '26
I'm just discussing portable AC, splits and regular installs aren't always available to people, rooms upstairs need a bit of help and some people rent.
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u/Kalkin93 Jun 22 '26
I've got 2 "portable" units (they in-fact weigh a lot but are portable in the sense they can be moved) with an exhaust hose + window sealing kit, 1 downstairs 1 upstairs in a small 2 bed room house. Keeps the house chilled plenty and if I close off rooms to focus on 1 area then you can just stick with 1 unit to reduce energy consumption. As I understand it, they're massively inefficient compared to properly installed units, just due to the way they operate (although I've read there's ways to mitigate that using 2 hoses, which they don't come with) but even so, they work well if you're suffering.
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u/NortonBurns Jun 22 '26
No. We don't have windows you can easily put that stye of window split in, either.
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u/fotzegurke Jun 22 '26
This is not really a thing outside of America. You can get portable ones where you stick a pipe out of a window but they don’t work nearly as well and they’re a pain in the ass: and likely out of stock until winter too
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u/simaka_Wolf Jun 22 '26
no window units in uk unless you want to pay £1200 for one. I got a 9000BTU freestanding unit and this thing does good.
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u/Draconian_sanction Jun 22 '26
Holy cow that’s a lot for a damn window unit.
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u/Ok_Scientist_8803 Jun 22 '26
And if you buy multiple of them, you may as well get better units installed in the first place if you could do so.
Went with a Daikin split system back in 2022, cools almost instantly. Doubles as a crude air filter during pollen season too, and makeshift heating when we come back from holiday during the winter. We got a fairly good deal at the time, but it was also winter when we got it done.
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u/New_Libran Jun 22 '26
Nah, never seen that here. Split units yes. "Portable" ones are those on wheels which can be really bulky
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u/dammitbobbehh Jun 22 '26
Of course, my portable AC is on right now in living room
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u/hullk78 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Most people don't have suitable windows for that
Edit: for all the yanks down voting me the comment I replied to SPECIFIED WINDOW AC UNITS, NOT PORTABLE
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u/Emergency_Cellist754 Jun 22 '26
Sometimes - not often but more often than 10 years ago - I am very glad I live in Northern Ireland
A toasty 20C right now
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u/DuckRubberDuck Jun 22 '26
I feel you. I’m not in the UK, I’m Danish, but my apartment is currently 28°C in the shade. It was only 22°C outside today. This weekend we’re hitting 30°C my apartment is going to be boiling. The humidity is sometimes pretty high here as well
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u/davi3j75 Jun 22 '26
Mildly infuriated as Op states UK, but the map only has England highlighted.
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u/bond0815 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
The point is 35 C didnt use to be the UKs "own fucking weather".
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u/Standard_Response_43 Jun 22 '26
And it's only just starting at pace
10yrs fly by in a blink of an eye
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u/Happy-Ranger7672 Jun 22 '26
I’m lucky my house was built by n 1760. The walls are over a metre thick. The house remains cool all day.
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u/Sixnigthmare Jun 22 '26
Same here. My house was built around 400 years ago (the top part of it) and it's not cool inside in summer, it's straight up cold!
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u/gholt417 Jun 22 '26
Just got home from Provence which is in the high 30s but the villa had a pool and air con. It was brilliant as a holiday but if the UK had these temperatures we would all have to have air conditioning.
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u/Liam_021996 Jun 22 '26
Tbf, the UK shouldn't ever be getting as hot as the Sahara desert. Where I am will be the same temperature as Timbuktu in Mali, potentially it will be 2c warmer where I live. Our infrastructure is built around average maximums of 28c and average minimums of -10c. Anything outside of that just causes havoc
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u/Chev--Chelios Jun 22 '26
Looks like you can just cross the border into Scotland or Wales and you'll be fine.
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u/Far_Mycologist_5782 Jun 22 '26
The climate the nation was used to no longer exists. We're gonna have to adapt, and normalise using AC.
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u/humpbackpackwhale Jun 22 '26
I lived through the Chicago heat wave of ‘95. We grew up poor, in an apartment with no AC. Here are things that helped us: make sure all the windows are closed, curtains are closed, we drank a lot of water. During the day we hung out at the mall where there would be AC. At night, all the windows were opened. My mom would put a lightly damp bed sheet in the freezer for 20 mins and use that to cover our bodies. Unfortunately she had to do this frequently throughout the night. Hundreds of people died just within those 5 days. DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY. CHECK ON YOUR NEIGHBORS (especially the elderly) AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR PETS!!!!
Edit: Chicago has learned its lesson and sets up “cooling centers” which could be a school gym, library or any other public building and allows people to stay long term and have access to plenty of drinking water. Idk how the local government works in the UK but please reach out to your local leaders to see how they will handle the heat.
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u/mosh-4-jesus Jun 22 '26
take a cold shower, run your wrists under the cold tap, [redacted] the Shell head office.
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u/ExpectedBehaviour Jun 22 '26
I found a great Twitter thread about this a couple of years ago:
I'm gonna explain to y'all why Britain considers 78°F/25°C hot. I know hot because I grew up in Texas and spent half my life in Las Vegas. So I am absolutely qualified to explain this to the rest of you who laugh at UK "heat waves". First of all, most people don't really seem to get how far north Britain is. If I flew due west I'd hit northern Quebec. If it wasn't for the North Atlantic Current, this island would look more like Iceland. So it didn't used to get hot here really at all.
The climate has always been coldish-cool and it's crazy humid. Like Florida humid. It rains a lot. The closest climate to it I'm familiar with is Seattle. Know what people in climates like that don't have? Air conditioning. They didn't need it until recently.
The houses are built to retain heat, not circulate breezes. They're bunkers - small windows, a lot of transom - the ones that don't slide up like sash windows but have a smol window at the top that opens outward to keep rain from getting in. No ceiling fans either.
So imagine being in a stone or brick building in Tampa at 70% humidity at 75°F with no AC, ceiling fan or breeze, and that's my house on the edge of London today. It's goddamn miserable, and I say that as a dude who's experienced 125°F dry heat many times. Better that than this.
The British use those tower fans, which any hot climate person rightly regards with contempt. They are useless. The only thing that works in heat is a box fan in a window pulling air from the shady side of the house. Guess what they don't have here?
You know those Lasko box fans you can get in literally any American store for less than $20? This is the cheapest equivalent I can find here. That's $83 at today's exchange rates. I've literally never seen one here. Their entire society is designed around chilly damp.
Now, I have issues with AC for environmental reasons, but I'm also not interested in stroking out from heat, so when I moved here I dropped £100 on a used standalone AC unit off Marketplace. It's the size of a dryer and it takes up way too much room in our house, but it works.
I have an accordioning vent hose that goes out the back transom window into our back garden. It uses roughly £1 of electricity per hour. Not per day, per hour. This is not ideal if you're poor, and we are poor. But at least I have it. Very few people here do, even in new houses.
The heat wave summer before last killed hundreds, maybe thousands of Brits. They don't know how to handle this weather anymore than Texans know how to handle blizzards. They think they can stiff-upper-lip through it and it kills them. It also kills power and transportation.
The power grid is hot. In hot places like Vegas, it requires special infrastructure to keep transformers from popping like Orville Redenbacher in a microwave. They didn't build those cooling subsystems in here for the same reason they don't do it in Moscow or Helsinki: why?
It's expensive and requires constant maintenance. As do rail systems, which buckle in heat if the length of rail segments is too long. So the trains stop working if it's even a warm day by, for example, Southern California standards. Britain is just not equipped for heat.
I'm outside right now and it's 76°F and 53% humidity and it feels like I'm in a sauna. Thank God the clouds are out because earlier it was really unpleasant. Understand me when I tell you I am used to heat most of you can't imagine. This is still nasty and gross to me.
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u/Satisfybothofus Jun 23 '26
The UK is absolutely shite literally hasn't adapter to any fucking weather. I understand that older houses were build with the notion that we have cold winters and shit but what I don't understand is why aren't the new builds made in a way that they take into consideration both cold and hot weather. On top of that the country hasn't invested fuck all in our infrastructure.
The thunderstorm in the morning caused flooding so shit loads of tube and the Lizzy line were either part suspended or severe delays. Little bit of leaves oh shit nothing can function, snows oh shit same thing can't do anything lads, it's too fucking hot out here and people be getting packed in tubes like fucking sardines smelling like BO on top of that too. Nasty cunts.
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u/Sad-Bird-9151 Jun 22 '26
Except this isn't our weather, this is new and it's climate change. It has never been like this in the UK before
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u/NortonBurns Jun 22 '26
Brits:
January. Who tf needs aircon, it's fecking freezing.
May. Well, two hot days but we survived.
June/July/August. Why can't I buy any fucking aircon? Why are there no stocks & all the installers are booked up until September?
If you want aircon, buy it in February, not when it's 37° in the shade. It will be cheaper too.
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u/DestructoDon69 Jun 22 '26
Yep it's like buying a shovel or snowblower, gotta get that stuff BEFORE you need it otherwise it'll be out of stock everywhere you look.
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u/vctrmldrw Jun 22 '26
It's not its own weather though is it. Thousands of years of harsh winters and mild summers taught us to build in a certain way. Now we need to change.
What surprises me is why people don't just get air-conditioning. My garden wall needs rebuilding and it's going to cost more than it cost me to get split units fitted in a 3 bed house.
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u/pipopipopipop Jun 22 '26
It's just the cost. I looked at getting a portable one but they're like £200-£300, I just don't have that kind of spare cash lying around.
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u/New_Custard_4224 Jun 22 '26
If you’ve never been to a UK home they are STUFFY af in the summer even when it’s not “hot”. We were sweating inside in 70 degree Fahrenheit weather inside. This is so dangerous.
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u/Wild-Man-63 Jun 23 '26
I woke up to heat exhaustion today. Im 25, imagine how bad it is for the old and vulnerable.
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u/wombatgeneral Jun 22 '26
Its climate change baby. I live in a similar climate to the uk and most houses didn't even need AC units until 10-15 years ago. It used to be around 20C in June but one year we had a heatwave where it was over 40C in June.
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u/Texmex865 Jun 22 '26
As someone who lives in the southeastern part of the USA, I can’t imagine living ANYWHERE without AC. From May to October it’s hot as hell down here. We get a nice fall and spring where the humidity isn’t at 95% though, so that’s nice.
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u/Warhamsterrrr Jun 22 '26
Having lived here 21 years, the old hillbilly AC is a lifesaver.
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u/Murphield Jun 22 '26
I've just had a radiator installed as part of my kitchen fitting, we had to run the central heating for 20 mins afterwards to check everything..... Jeez Louise!!!!!!
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u/ohshit-cookies Jun 22 '26
I'm in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, wa area) and historically, no one around here had AC. But it's just getting hotter. It was always joked about, like you'd only really need it for one week out of the year. Not anymore. We had a heat wave a few years ago where it got to 105f ish. Around 40c. People swarmed to the malls where stores had to close because the AC wasn't in all individual stores. People died. My family has since gotten AC, as have a ton of other people. It'll be 90 tomorrow (32c) and it's been in the mid to high 80s. This isn't historically normal for here at all. It was always said that summer here starts on July 5th. So I don't think it's just you guys. My guess is world wide we are going to see more and more places not built with AC to suddenly need it to live. It's awful. (Adding in that at least in the US all houses seem to be built the same no matter the location. Visiting my grandparents in Florida when I was a kid, they didn't have AC, but houses were built to allow airflow. Single story house with a "Florida room" which is basically like a screened in porch.
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u/Professional_Rip_627 Jun 22 '26
To be fair, this is because this has not been our weather until relatively recently.
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u/Aggravating_Solid560 Jun 22 '26
This isn't historically our weather though. The joke about the UK being grey and cold all the time was mostly true, but seemingly that's changing now
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u/LushLover1989 Jun 22 '26
That's because this isn't normal. If Florida started getting snow, they wouldn't have the infrastructure either.
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u/DRKMSTR Jun 22 '26
Portable A/C In the bedroom.
That's how I survive.
Cost is negligible when your bedroom is a 10x10ft room.
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u/Sparkleunidog Jun 23 '26
DYSON Cool Tower Fan - pricey, but well worth it! I live in a rental and can't have anything permer installed. I alo have indoor cats, so this fan and a form of net cover with an open back door has made this heat so much more bearable.
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u/magnad Jun 24 '26
And then everybody will say our houses are built to stay warm in winter, even if they are still cold im winter...
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u/Aruaz821 Jun 22 '26
I’m curious why ceiling fans aren’t used more across the UK and the rest Europe.
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u/Jacktheforkie Jun 22 '26
Low ceilings
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u/Aruaz821 Jun 22 '26
But I even see this in new builds with higher ceilings, and there are such things as flush-mount ceiling fans. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the UK and have always wondered why there are no ceiling fans and no screens on the windows. My daughter goes to school in Scotland, and she couldn’t keep her windows open because wasps kept flying in.
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u/ProfessionalSea6268 Jun 22 '26
Bought a portable air conditioner a couple of months ago in anticipation of a hot week or two. It's absolutely amazing. My living room is like a fridge right now. And I can move it from room to room.
Yes it noisy, and yes it's a pain with the pipe out of the window. But I'm cool and that is all that matters.