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Comment by cjfd | Hacker News Reader

It feels like more than 3 C. When I was a child it was hot in summer when it was between 25 en 30 C. Now it is hot in summer when it is between 35 and 40 C.

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In my hometown in Russia they routinely grow these days the unreachable stuff of my childhood dreams like apricots, sweet cherries, etc. Though the children there can't ski cross country in winter anymore for the lack of snow.

There is more temperature increase needed though for the majority of the country to become apricot (or even wheat) growing, and so if you've noticed Russia doesn't waste time/effort on climate talks/etc. - it pumps the oil like crazy instead, tries to develop its North/East and builds new weapons, including the systems intended for the North/East territories which are going to become more used (and contested) with the coming and increasing warming. For those who know the Russian jokes, that is an optimistic version of the future. Never mind some minor bumps along the road https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/14/thawing-perma...

"almost 60% of all buildings in Norilsk have been deformed as a result of climate change shrinking the permafrost zone. Local engineers said more than 100 residential buildings, or one-tenth of the housing fund, have been vacated here due to damage from thawing permafrost."

In my family we are collecting climate data since 1948 and as child i remember temperatures above 37C where extremely rare (like 3 times in 60 years). We were super excited when once the record was exceeded of a decimal point.

Now we have days with 37 and 38 C every summer, sometimes even 40 (we are in south europe).

That's a cool family project! However, assuming that you're only collecting data where e.g. you live, I think you're collecting weather data, not climate data. Climate refers to global averages.

This may sound like a nitpick but it's important to remember that no data from a single location can say much of anything about what the global climate is doing. It's quite possible for some places to get colder even if the climate grows warmer.

Climate is defined as long term averages of weather, so a single location can have a climate that's different from another location.

Wikipedia: " . . . long-term averages of weather are called "climate".[1][2]"

"The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents."

No, a tropical rainforest and the South Pole have very different weather patterns. Those trends which generally includes seasonal variations are called Climate.

In a broader sense, the "climate" of a region is the general state of the climate system at that location. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate

I'm in northern Europe, and some places in the country hit 40. When I was a kid, 30 was rare. Above 35 unheard of. This year was absolutely extreme, and yet I fear it may become the rule.

This is just the beginning. We are halfway of the way to 1.5°C and there is no reason why warming should stop at 1.5°C.

> In my family we are collecting climate data since 1948

Do you happen to know in what years were the previous temperature records set? Could it be they were set prior to 1948?

1976 in the UK was fiercely hot for months. I've been told that there was smoke in every direction from our house due to wildfire.

Don't know where you grew up but for some this will have definitely increased the temperature over the years - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island

You'd be surprised what a couple degree difference can feel like. In Queensland we turn the AC to only 3 degrees below the outside temp and it feels way colder inside.

3 degrees is indeed a lot, but you will only have the temperature sensor that regulates indoor temperature in a specific place so, depending on placement, other areas of the room can get way colder. Also they typically have builtin hysteresis so they only react when they go below a threshold of difference. Lastly most HVAC systems also manage humidity so heat sensation varies more.

The AC also removes moisture from the air, which makes it feel much cooler as sweating becomes more effective (if moisture is low enough, you can feel comfortable at 35C with no wet spots)

> if moisture is low enough, you can feel comfortable at 35C with no wet spots

Conversely if moisture is high enough, you can be dying at 35C (35C WBT is the point at which the human body can't shed heat to the environment anymore).

Atleast according to Kachelmann, a german weather reported with some controversy behind him, stated that most heat-related deaths could have been prevented if moisture had been lower; if people who only vent during the night would pull in extra moisture and just make it hard on them. He recommends to always leave the window open so fresh air can move in and out.

(Note that this is in germany, we don't have regular AC so leaving your window open or tilting it is the only option)

But yeah, at WBT 35°C you're going to start running into thermal problems. At that point your best bet is lots of cold water (careful you don't overhydrate, that's equally dangerous as dehydration in the heat), that can probably push you to 37C WBT.

But beyond that it's basically a race against stress shutdown of your body to get some effective method of cooling going.

Good point! Can't believe I didn't consider that. QLD is very humid too.

Atm I'm fighting a 25C/80% humidity weather, during the heatwave the worst was 44C/70% (measured on my own station, officially my location had 39C, and it could have been higher but my sensor isn't designed for more than 45C)

Not all temperature is equal, I've experienced 40C in multiple plates (California, NC, NY(not C), Spain and (once) the UK), in California and Spain it was bearable with low humidity and helped by infrastructure used to it, the rest not so much.

I'm pretty sure you haven't experienced 40C in the UK, as their temperature record currently sits at 38.7C

AFAIK listed temp records are for shaded areas, they might have had to be in the sun for some reason.

I feel like this is the case too. I wonder though if 3C is enough to push hot into uncomfortably hot. Especially if at night its 3 degrees warmer so the house never really cools and humidity is higher.

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