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heat waves sweeping through Europe
Jul. 26th, 2006 11:15 pmI've been reading with growing fascination the news on the BBC website about the heat wave that's been sweeping across the world this summer. Yeah, I'll be the first to agree that the temperatures in CA, MO, and NY definitely qualify as hot. But when I read about the heat wave that's running through Europe, it's with a small bit of bogglement.
Yeah, it's been hot here. We had about a week where it was in the mid to high 90's. And with the exception of the storm a few days ago, we've hardly gotten any rain since the middle of June. The grass is all brown, the hydrangeas on our way to work are all dead (which is shame, because last year their blooms lasted until November, turning from pink to blue to purple), and the canals are definitely low. There was a day or two last week where it was nice to just loll around and do nothing mentally taxing. But unbearably hot? Sorry, no. This is nothing compared to Madison summers, where it was in the mid to high 90's for most of the summer, not just for a week or two in July, with the humidity near 100% most of the time too, where two high powered directional fans in two windows, all the other windows open, and two other fans running doesn't cool the house off even at night. Where even with no blankets and no clothes, you lie in bed at night covered in sweat and feeling like you're breathing under water. My second summer in Madison (the summer I had mono and that didn't keep me from going to work, because at least it was air conditioned there, and I could sit at a computer lying low), at one point I checked the internal thermostat in the house around 1am, it was 95 degrees. (This was in the apartment where my bed was lofted so that, in a second story apartment, I was a foot and a half away from the ceiling).
We don't have any fans here. There was a night or two where it was pretty hot, and I didn't sleep well. But other than that, I just don't find this that hot. I still sleep with a sheet on. During the day in our office, with the wind blowing in the windows and being on the shaded side of the building, I occassionally wish I had a light sweater. I still drink hot tea as my preferred beverage while at the office.
I can understand that for older people, and other people who aren't used to this kind of temperature, this can be really difficult to acclimate to. And in some places, the temperature and the humidity have really reached unbearable points. But when I compare here even to what I was living through last summer, it simply doesn't seem that bad.
Yeah, it's been hot here. We had about a week where it was in the mid to high 90's. And with the exception of the storm a few days ago, we've hardly gotten any rain since the middle of June. The grass is all brown, the hydrangeas on our way to work are all dead (which is shame, because last year their blooms lasted until November, turning from pink to blue to purple), and the canals are definitely low. There was a day or two last week where it was nice to just loll around and do nothing mentally taxing. But unbearably hot? Sorry, no. This is nothing compared to Madison summers, where it was in the mid to high 90's for most of the summer, not just for a week or two in July, with the humidity near 100% most of the time too, where two high powered directional fans in two windows, all the other windows open, and two other fans running doesn't cool the house off even at night. Where even with no blankets and no clothes, you lie in bed at night covered in sweat and feeling like you're breathing under water. My second summer in Madison (the summer I had mono and that didn't keep me from going to work, because at least it was air conditioned there, and I could sit at a computer lying low), at one point I checked the internal thermostat in the house around 1am, it was 95 degrees. (This was in the apartment where my bed was lofted so that, in a second story apartment, I was a foot and a half away from the ceiling).
We don't have any fans here. There was a night or two where it was pretty hot, and I didn't sleep well. But other than that, I just don't find this that hot. I still sleep with a sheet on. During the day in our office, with the wind blowing in the windows and being on the shaded side of the building, I occassionally wish I had a light sweater. I still drink hot tea as my preferred beverage while at the office.
I can understand that for older people, and other people who aren't used to this kind of temperature, this can be really difficult to acclimate to. And in some places, the temperature and the humidity have really reached unbearable points. But when I compare here even to what I was living through last summer, it simply doesn't seem that bad.
