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Comment by olivermarks | Hacker News Reader

Vintage Guardian headline

That's true, it does sound a little over the top. But as somebody who has experienced first-hand a European heatwave, I can honestly say at the time it really did feel like hell.

I am not a climatologist or a meteo guy, but I was lucky enough to be able to have a career break in my early 30's. Just for the heck of it I studied geography; my degree came with a heavy element of climate science. I think I retained a fascination with heatwaves - not necessarily the "mechanics" of it, but rather how people/societies live and adapt to them.

'...High humidity meant it would feel like 47C, experts warned. “El infierno [hell] is coming,” tweeted the TV meteorologist Silvia Laplana in Spain, where the AEMET weather service forecast temperatures of 42C by Thursday in the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys and warned of an “extreme risk” of forest fires.'

Some South American style heat briefly affecting an area of Spain is translated by the Guardian as ''Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins across Europe'. This is irresponsible journalism and rather typical of their negative sensationalism IMO. Don't underestimate the anxiety this can cause people

Translated by the Guardian?! They are literally using a quote from a meteorologist in one of the countries that will be affected.

https://twitter.com/slaplana_tve/status/1143038630144950273

Indeed. And “infierno” translates as “hell”

http://www.spanishcentral.com/translate/infierno

I also feel that also in weather forecast business there's a lot of sensationalism just to get attention shares from the public.

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