When I lived in Canada, in living memory, the city where I lived had temperatures of potentially between minus 40C and plus 40C, possibly even worse when you factored in the wind chill and the humidity factor but life would go on as usual. Now, in the UK, they have three days that have temperatures of plus 30C and they are talking about closing businesses or restricting hours of business and throwing around terms such as 'red alert', 'amber warning,' 'national emergency,' 'red heat,' 'thousands could die,' etc. and advising people not to travel. Talk about a small minded people? In most of the North Eastern American continent, life goes on regardless.

Click-bait media headlines and government arse covering does not equate to 'a small minded people'.

While we might feel that way, don't forget that there is also a high percentage of British people who don't have that knowledge. Especially those who like to drink lager and never seek shade can die, so it's just really to make the public aware. Even in France during the 2003 heatwave thousands died, so the government just want to avoid the worst and by announcing red alert, they are saving their backside.
Even in Germany they had to cancel operations as many of the hospitals are not equipped to function during the heat and the building code changes take time.

I don't know about small minded but this comment (posted elsewhere) is interesting

The first sentence may be true, the second, however, makes no concession to the wider variations experienced by other countries.

The UK isn't set up, in any way, for the high temps we are currently getting, road surfaces WILL melt, houses do NOT have aircon, more and more cars are getting air con but not houses public buildings, in general do NOT have aircon, where I worked we had no temp controls if it got very warm, not a big problem normally, but with more and more electronic equipment doing the tests, and a a lot of these being temperature controlled there were ambient temperatures that the machines could cope with, but above these levels the machinery would just shut down. We did persuade the manufacturers of the new machines to fund air-conditioning, remember these were machines worth several million pounds. We therefore became the ONLY A?C are of the hospital at one time. Schools still do not have A/C but most class rooms have large areas of glass windows, and will be far too hot for safety, it's only a fw days, this time, but will increase. Currently the cost of providing A/C means it's a cheaper option to close for the days.

I agree. The country has not been set up for it cos it has never been needed. I have had long conversations with colleagues in Australia who say the British are "stupid to stop for a little bit of heat" You have to explain that all the things many here take for granted - constant air con at work, and in most homes, air con in schools, even as simple as having the right clothing, and knowing ways to stay cool, in the UK these are not a fact of life as they've never been necessary.
I remember having to talk an Aussie friend out of doing major modifications ot my flat, when I lived back in Brighton - a heatwave of the early 2000s, when the temps got to about 38 for a few days. He wanted to go out and buy a ceiling fan and install it in my rented flat, as he said no flat should be without some kind of cooling. He just couldn't understand that it would hardly ever get used, and could not be bolted to the ceiling without discussion with the landlord, no matter how hot he himself was!

Very easy to mock and call people "small-minded", but really it should just be understood that people can't be expected to adapt instantly to unusually extreme conditions.

We have all been lectured about the threat (& effects) of global warming for decades now, yet so little has been done to actually adapt to a changing situation.

You are completely right and even here in Ireland I see the cheap tarmac melt when it reaches 30 and people are just not prepared. In Northern Europe big glass windows have been installed to let in the light, but many never thought about the heat and have no aircon. Unlike Germany, British also don't have Rolladen to keep the sun out and fewer homes have a cellar. We just have to look to Spain and Portugal and even though they are used to it, you still have over a 1000 deaths due to the current heat wave right now.

My sister just texted me to say that it is 43C in her office and they are working with wet cloths on their heads and necks.

All trains on the east coast between York and London have been cancelled tomorrow because of concerns that the rails may buckle.

The high temperature tomorrow is only the 3rd time this has happened in over 100 years. It’s the same when we get severe winters causing great disruption, but again that is actually quite rare. It’s all a matter of cost effectiveness. When extreme weather events become common enough then it will be cost effective to spend hundreds of millions on the infrastructure to be more resilient.

Runways at RAF Brize Norton and Luton Airport have both been closed for part of the day due to melting tarmac, in Somerset the Council have, on stand-by, a number f gritters loaded with stone dust to stabilise any road surfaces that start to melt.

Many of us remember the 1976 heatwave. My wife and I were living in an attic bedsit that summer, with no refrigerator. It was pretty brutal.

However, it did not achieve the high temperatures of this week. And the heatwave was very limited in scale, mainly the UK and France.


UK heatwave: How do temperatures compare with 1976? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/62212604

In '76 I was setter / operator of a 4 tonne auto chukker (lathe). We had to run it with all the covers off and a couple of fans trained on it - during cycles I would push my forearms under the access hatch to let one of the coolant streams run over! Health & safety? Nah!

Yes, them were the days

I remember the 1976 summer even though I was quite young. We also moved during that summer as well. Reservoirs were running low and many fires.

I was just a kid but i remember stand pipes in the street