A severe heatwave gripped much of Europe on Sunday, with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), prompting nationwide warnings, transport disruption and signs of strain on wildlife and at tourist hotspots.
The heat surge on June 21, the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and typically the start of the three hottest months of the year, raised concerns of an early and persistent onset of extreme conditions.
I lived in a small city in Wales a few years back.
Pretty much no one had AC in their house/apartment.
A lot of other places didn’t either. Like restaurants and pubs.
But the grocery store did. So if it got crazy hot I would sometimes wander around the tesco across the street.
The university I was attending had AC in the newer building but I do believe it wasn’t in all buildings.
Train had AC.
The Bus most certainly did not. Riding the bus on a hot rainy day was like being in a sauna. Condensation running down the inside walls and windows. All fogged up windows.
They just aren’t prepared to handle this heat.
The windows I had in my apartment were like…they opened like a fridge door on its side. Not slide up like how it is common here in the U.S. Making it difficult to use window AC units.
Plus the additional demand on the power grid for people getting AC for homes and apartments is probably not currently supported.
Basically how all european windows work
Wales though, isn’t going to be at the heart of the heat wave. Them having oceanic climate and being pretty far north already, they won’t be as hot. But I was surprised to see, that even there it’s going to be more than 30°C for a bit.
Other countries like Spain, France and Italy are gonna experience the real extremes, with temperatures as high as 42°C in some places. Fortunately, AC is a bit more common there, as they are experience higher temperatures more frequently, but still.
In Germany, where I live, we’re not very well prepared for the prolonged heat, and AC is still pretty rare here, especially in homes (and somehow has a bad rep).
We have a culturally ingrained technique to deal with it, by blocking out direct sunlight with our window blinds (if you haven’t seen our common blinds, watch this: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE) and airing out the house at night to cool down the building. This worked pretty well for the climate that used to be. But for heat waves like the one in front of us, where it doesn’t cool down below 25°C we’ll reach our limits.
I’m so happy to live in an appartement, that recently had split heat-pumps installed to replace it’s old school electric heating system. Those can be used for cooling as well.