Hacker News

Europe's summer heat wave killed more han 50k people in urban areas(science.org)

55 points by rbanffy 4 days ago | 29 comments

The speed of change has been astoundingly fast. We went from temperatures above 30 degrees being newsworthy, to months on end with temperatures above 30 degrees in, what? Four years?

Everyone I know is in the process of getting A.C installed but installers can't cope with the level of demand. There's some ideological resistance, but understand the change happened as close to overnight as you'll get when talking about the climate.

[–] dathinab 4 days ago

yep,

single >30C day was worth a full front-page on a large newspaper just idk. 15 years ago.

there are songs written about the temp. being 35C because it was that really special heat day you have at most once every few years (we had multiple days of that in a row and reaching basically 40C this year)

last summer we had >week with temperatures with 15-20C over the average temp. (of that month in the past)! And still >10C over the average of monthly maximal temperatures. Month where you normally are happy for 20C breaking full year/high of the summer heat records...

basically Germany went in one year from "yeah there are more really hot days in summer in average, it's a pain, but fine" to "oh, shit, we have a huge problem in a lot of areas due to the lack of AC"

most annoying many older, especially conservative, politicians still approach this with a "was fine for us will be fine for you/no AC for you" mentality. Especially when it comes to topics like spending money for thinks like making sure Hospital facilities for newborns have AC (that young children can't properly self regulate their body temperature, until idk. 9-12 moth of age).

[–] sznio 4 days ago

>Especially when it comes to topics like spending money for thinks like making sure Hospital facilities for newborns have AC (that young children can't properly self regulate their body temperature, until idk. 9-12 moth of age).

well, old people will certainly get AC in hospitals. children, who cares...

[–] dathinab 3 days ago

oh no they get that neither

except if they payed for private insurance and pay extra for a single room and get into one of the fancy mostly private only hospitals

but I don't think the people in question think about this as "I'm fine who care what happens to you" terms but more in "we didn't had this in the past we don't need it now" manner in a way not just crule to other _but also to them self_.

[–] perching_aix 4 days ago

> there are songs written about the temp. being 35C because it was that really special heat day

Do you mean "28° in the shade" perhaps, a French song from 1978 by Jean-François Maurice? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpPnr0mCka4

Been a while I heard it, had to look it up. :) I also recalled mid-30s something, guess that was wrong. Or this is another case of the Mandela effect.

[–] ButlerianJihad 4 days ago

There's always 37°2 le matin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Blue

[–] nickserv 4 days ago

I always thought it was a reference to human body temperature.

[–] euroderf 4 days ago

Siouxsie and the Banshees – 92°

"Did you know that more murders are committed at ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature?"

( 33 1/3 °C ]

[–] nbajka 4 days ago

I live in the south of Spain and I have first-person experience with this - most of these deaths happened to old people who, despite their really good pensions, would rather die of heat stroke than install and turn on an air conditioner. Some really think they are going to be buried with their money.

You could cut these deaths to basically zero if the government installed the air conditioners and they didn’t have to pay for the electricity. Just to be clear I’m not advocating for this.

[–] moi2388 4 days ago

Isn’t most of it old people who forget to drink though?

Perhaps nursing homes should nurse, and ensure people drink enough?

[–] holsta 4 days ago

Is that how you'd like someone to respond if one of yours passed away from preventable situations?

Most nursing homes are barely staffed to handle basic hygiene. They don't have the resources to manage days of an entire building crossing a healthy temperature range.

[–] coldtea 4 days ago

>Is that how you'd like someone to respond if one of yours passed away from preventable situations?

Yes. I'd like for them to identify what the actual problem is, and suggest people paid to help with it do their job.

>Most nursing homes are barely staffed to handle basic hygiene. They don't have the resources to manage days of an entire building crossing a healthy temperature range.

Is that how you'd like someone to respond if one of yours passed away from preventable situations?

I'm repeating your comment, because you basically add to the same argument the parent made, even though you scolded them for it.

[–] moi2388 4 days ago

I would very much like the nursing home to ensure my family member drank enough every day.

In fact, it’s the bare minimum I’d expect.

[–] saddat 4 days ago

This data is the deviation from average, a mere correlation . Heat death is not simple to diagnose