We’re not setup for hot weather, so we resort to all kinds of things to keep us and our homes cool.
Apart from ordering fans from Amazon, what else have you been doing to keep cool?
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Sorry to crash this as an American, but we have months of 45°C temperatures here in Texas with a really humid climate, so I might be able to offer some advice.
One summer my AC was out entirely for about a month. I survived by positively soaking a sleeveless tank in ice water and sitting around in that until it wasn’t cooling me anymore and then soaking it again.
I recently found some ice packs that go around the neck, and they really work miracles for lowering one’s body temperature. I always keep one in the freezer now for when I get back from a walk.
FWIW, in all my years in kitchens across the globe, one of the few culturally organic commonalities across them all was the tradition of taking a kitchen towel; arranging a long pile of ice cubes across its center and rolling it up tightly; securing with twist-ties, rubber bands, butcher string, etc. (even butterfly clips!) Then, draping it across the back of the neck, and tucking the ends into either side of the collar.
Boom! Instant cool, refreshing relief, straight to the dome via the pulminary system. (it cools the neck first, and shortly after, the head and chest) Bonus: the eventual drench as it melts isn’t a bad thing considering you’re already sweaty AF and helps cool you off too!
Plus, it makes you look like you’re obviously working really hard —what, with your uniform so saturated and all, from you neck down your back. 🤪
this is solid!
I think you mean 35°C? 45°C is 113°F.
We get regular temperatures in the south west, Arizona specifically, over 120°F. The summer I moved away it was 133°F for three fucking days.
The local paper kept a count on the front page for how many days the temperature didn’t drop below 100°F, and that includes the overnight temp.
I remember going to the office we have in Phoenix on a February (years ago…) and that was a hot day for me… and 1 of the locals came in to work with a jumper on 🤯🦞
The hottest temperature ever recorded on earth was 130 degrees, in Death Valley. I think your thermometer might have been a little off.
The official highest recorded temperature is now 56.7°C (134°F), which was measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California, USA.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-recorded-temperature
You’re quite right. I’d forgotten how swiftly the years pass for your kind, it’s been decades since I last looked. A new record? How wonderful!
Just going by what the bank thermometer said around town.
He did not make any errors. Texas routinely gets over 40C all over the state. I have experienced it in Johnson City as well as in Houston
Nope, the highs are mid to high 30s in Texas.
https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Texas/temperature-august.php
Those are the average highs. It can peak well above that for a given week.
I live in northern US and have the opposite phenomenon. Average low in coldest month is 12F but we usually have about a week below 0F
Thanks, my estimate was a little bit off; I’m terminally America-brained.
It’s months of over 100°F to 110°F (38°C - 43°C) here, but it does spike up there, and the heat index does regularly get that high.
Pretty much everyone here has AC though.
No probs!
I lived in Houston for a couple of years so I knew it was a bit off. I wouldn’t have lasted my first summer if 45°C was normal!
I think Houston has a bit cooler temperature from Dallas due to the proximity to the ocean, but the humidity more than makes up for it.
It’s just impossible to cool down in that kind of climate.
My mum always said to drink hot drinks in hot weather to regulate temperature. This was not her wisest advice.
Did she also advise to wear a coat so you feel the benefit?
Yeah, a cup of tea will make you feel cooler… trust me…
I guess that’s like taking brandy to the hyperthermic people being rescued from avalanches…
Some cultures think that you should drink the opposite temperature. But if you look at what happens when you drink hot stuff, it doesn’t sound that crazy. Hot stuff makes you sweat. Sweat, when hot by dry air molecules, releases energy. That process cools you down.
You missed 1 critical part in the process. Hot stuff heats you up, that increased heat makes you sweat harder, the sweat evaporates, which cools you back down to where you were before you drank the hot drink, you briefly feel like you cooled down, which you did, just only from the increase caused by the hot drink. Kind of a win?
Ah. I see what you’re saying. You’re saying the heat from the hot water compensates for the increase in sweating.
I suppose it’s worthwhile investigating the relationship between the energy in the water and the energy lost through sweating. And indeed some people have studied that:
“Yes, the hot drink is hotter than your body temperature, so you are adding heat to the body, but the amount that you increase your sweating by—if that can all evaporate—more than compensates for the the added heat to the body from the fluid.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-hot-drink-on-a-hot-day-can-cool-you-down-1338875/
Interesting 👍 thanks for the link. So it does work, just only in very specific situations.
It’s fine advice if you’re not doing a bunch of labor on a hot day, it’s good for chilling in shade with a breeze where you’re not sweating as hard
My tried and tested technique of living in Shetland seems to be working.
I should migrate there in the summer…
Ice packs, the ones you put in picnic bags to keep the food cold.
I sit on one or put it in my lap during the day, and put another in bed with me at night. Great between the thighs for maximum cooling. Wrap it in a pillow case or towel or something so you don’t have it directly against your skin when it’s fully frozen.
Hmm, good idea. I think my icepacks are in the shed… I’ll get them out before it’s 40DegC in there again
I’ve been using ice packs too. They work great. It doesn’t stop me feeling hot but totally works for control sweating as much.
If we weren’t complete individualistic morons we would have district heating and even district cooling. You can produce chilled water with high grade waste heat with a absorber chillers. They use 1-3% as much electricity as the same capacity compressive cooler.
Paired with a soapstone sand battery you can sink over productive renewables (instead of shorting solar panels or stopping wind turbines) into high grade heat you can use later for winter heating or summer cooling.
Just looked up the soapstone thing… looks like Finland did a good job with one recently
Yeah it’s pretty smart… And incredibly simple… Way too low profit for my country’s blood (Canada) not to mention which duolopoly would own it in Canada? It can’t exist as a competing business strategy. It either needs to be blocked with regulations (regs captured by industry and capital…) or it needs to be a pet project of one of our oligarchs that never grows beyond a pilot plant battery that maybe gets used to make chemicals or something via industrial heat.
Microfiber clothes soaked in ice chest and or dampened and frozen.
Wrap around your neck until it reaches ambient temp. Rinse and repeat (swapping out another one).
Not in the UK, but a native desert dweller with some advice. I have two neck wraps that have polymer beads in them (they absorb water and hold it). These work great to keep on your neck. https://koolgator.com/product/cooling-neck-wrap/
I also have a hood that I soak and then wear to help cool my head. https://www.mission.com/products/cooling-hoodie-towel
When I do have to be outside for extended periods of time I wear thin light colored clothing that exposes as little skin as possible. Our IV index here in New Mexico is brutal, unsure about yours.
I’m just another imposter. Same brutal heat but think 90+% humidity… gotta come prepared
Been building an offgrid two story cabin out in the middle of the woods. Realize this is a choice and one not many would make but I know a few things about mitigation here.
Hang out in the bathroom lol, not in Europe but if the AC goes out that’s what I do. Not sure why but bathroom is always the coolest room naturally.
It’s a good room to be in… all the conveniences…
Blowing on it really hard
Swamp Cooler.
Remember, while swamp coolers are ideal for dry climates, they may not be as effective in areas with high humidity.
🤔 hmmm… checks sensors… 80% humidity…
Meh, humidity gets redundant at a certain point. Cool mist is almost always a win.
