Soooo.... warm...

[BBP]

At present, the Dutch weather is dry. This of course goes for most of Europe - forest fires in Greece have claimed over 80 lives. In our water-rich country, heat is rarely pleasant. The high humidity makes it hard to breathe and makes it difficult for your body to cool.
Yesterday the Eindhoven weather station measured 40 degrees Celsius on the ground (104 F) which is unheard of in this neck of the woods, the highest temperature ever measured in the south of the Netherlands.

I've never been good with the heat - not even in my days of newspaper routes when I was physically fit. I have barely been able to sleep in the last few weeks, I feel sick all the time... it's starting to take its toll.

So my question to our Australian and American friends: how do you cope with this kind of temperatures?

[Collector]

Of course here air conditioning is probably more common. That said, we went through a period of high 90s with over 90% humidity. Today it was only about 80 with low humidity. Over night is expected to drop to a delicious high 50.

[Tawmis]

We've got a few uncontained fires around us as well. One just broke out today close (but not of any concern) just north of where I live.

Like you, I hate the heat - would rather be cold. Because then you just put on a jacket or more clothes. In the heat, you can't take off all of your clothes...

Well, I mean you can, but in the public, you're likely to get arrested.

[BBP]

Taking off all clothes at home doesn't work here...with heat higher than body temp...

There are people with air conditioning (probably more than ever with global warming on the rise) but our summers are typically Indian - the last heat wave in The Netherlands was in 2015.

It's cooled down, we're trying our best to get the hot air out of the house and get some zleep.

[Rath Darkblade]

What I do in the summer is close all the windows and all the blinds and stay in one room, where I put on the fan and eat ice-cream 'til I puke. (Well, maybe not that last one).

Seriously, 40 C is ridiculous. Sleeping isn't easy with that kind of heat. I'm lucky that I have a ceiling fan, but even so - instead of using a blanket (which would be horrible), I use a beach towel to sleep under. It's bearable... two years ago we had some summer days that went well into the mid-40s (almost 120 F), and I was still able to sleep - though it wasn't easy.

It's currently mid-winter here. BRRR... haven't had a cold yet! *crosses fingers*

[Tawmis]

Taking off all clothes at home doesn't work here...with heat higher than body temp...

I think the worse humidity I have ever been in is still New Orleans... when standing in the shade, your body emits so much sweat that you shirt sticks to your skin, everywhere, like you just went swimming... it was some intense humidity.

[Collector]

Yep. The delta is the worst. I was there as a kid when heat and humidity never bothers you, yet it was too much to take, even as young as I was.

[el_pombo]

It seems the heat wave has arrived to the Iberian Peninsula! 46ºC in some parts of Portugal and already significant forest fires in the south of the country! Last year more than 100 people died as a result of forest fires (the worst in recorded history)! I remember waking up at 6AM on October 15th to run the Lisbon Marathon and getting to the start line already sweating because of the heat at that time of day - I had never seen so much people having to pull to the side during the race because of the heat - and later that evening forest fires got so severe that 48 people died in Portugal and 4 in Spain. What happened this year in Greece was very similar, I spent some time in Greece over the last two years and noticed that they have the same problems with mono culture as we have in Portugal (mainly eucalyptus and pine trees) and this often serves as unlimited fuel for wild fires. I'm worried the same thing may happen this year. I went to have a light run this afternoon and after just 10 minutes of a 30 minute training I was already feeling dehydrated and now I'm lying in bed with a fan blowing air at maximum power! The temperatures felt in the last 3 days are almost unprecedented in this region!

[BBP]

Record heat today in Portugal... thinking of you el-pombo!

[el_pombo]

Record heat today in Portugal... thinking of you el-pombo!

Thanks for your thoughts BBP!

There are several villages being evacuated due to the forest fires that remain active for three days! This is very upsetting, firefighters (almost 1000 of them, supported by helicopters and planes) are working mainly to protect the populations, but everything else they just let it burn (probably for lack of equipment)... I can't help but feel very sad for all the small animals that are dying because of the fires and for the ecological catastrophe this is causing.

Fortunately, temperatures are already starting to go down, here where I live we had 43ºC today, but the expected maximum temperature for tomorrow is 29ºC! I expect this year not to be as bad as last year, because this year there will be no elections - In election years there are always twice as many forest fires than normal, because of politically motivated arson (I suspect that the exact the same thing is starting to happen in Greece).

Have you seen the animation released by NASA showing the effects of global warming between 1950-2013? It's horrifying!

https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/animations/

[Tawmis]

Our AC died Friday Night, and there's some heat here... it's 9:52pm and it's 91 degrees in the house.

We stayed in a hotel last night, just to have AC with the dogs.

[el_pombo]

Our AC died Friday Night, and there's some heat here... it's 9:52pm and it's 91 degrees in the house.

We stayed in a hotel last night, just to have AC with the dogs.

Shopping centers got pretty crowded over here with so many people searching for a place with AC! Temperatures used to be pleasant during almost all year, with soft winters and summers, so AC is uncommon because there was no need for it, but during this weekend stores ran out of AC's due to the enormous demand.

[Tawmis]

Our AC died Friday Night, and there's some heat here... it's 9:52pm and it's 91 degrees in the house.

We stayed in a hotel last night, just to have AC with the dogs.

Shopping centers got pretty crowded over here with so many people searching for a place with AC!

My wife was "shopping" all day yesterday at the mall for that same exact reason.

[BBP]

I've done some overtime at my work for the airco...

[Spikey]

Must say, I kind of love this weather. Usually I do heavy mountain hiking in the Pyrenees in these conditions, but I'm glad I postponed my annual trip over there until fall. Last year it rained all of August in the NL when I just got back, and it depressed the hell out of me.