UK Hot Weather

[Kremmen]

37.8 to 23.1 is some feat.

It was 35.6 here and I closed all windows and doors and pulled all blinds and curtains but I only managed to stop it rising above 29 downstairs and 31 upstairs. I've also got a security shutter over the patio door that keeps the glass cool.

Same today, currently 37.9 out and 28.6 in

 

[TonyM]

Again today all doors, windows & curtains are closed. There's no-one in the house. My Nest thermostat (downstairs in the coolest part of the house) tells me it's currently 33degC outside and 27.5degC indoors.

 

[Nigel]

Not my actual house - but the same construction style further down the street:

Ahh, that roof is not at all good!

My house has an extra floor between our upstairs and actual roof, we don't go up there often in the heat or cold, but it provides very good insulation for the upstairs that we do use!

Would take a bit of effort to sort your insulation out.

 

[Nigel]

37.8 to 23.1 is some feat.

We do have an advantage of not having a south facing wall. The next house does, but that does quite well too, the south facing wall does not have any windows, and I believe the outer layer of bricks are made of expanded polystyrene. Houses were built in about 1870 I think.

There is a huge range of houses in the UK, some very well insulated, some extremely poorly insulated!

 

[Kremmen]

I'm too well insulated. All walls and loft are Rockwool. Once heat gets in it takes ages to shift it.

 

[Harsh]

31,32 or more indoors feels warm, even for us. Not being used to and no air-conditioning, not fun…

 

[TonyM]

Unofficial shade air temp in my north-facing back garden 40.1C


Tripod-mounted thermometer using a phone holder, VHB tape and a cardboard box

 

[Dashmellow]

Unofficial shade air temp in my north-facing back garden 40.1C

View attachment 61115
Tripod-mounted thermometer using a phone holder, VHB tape and a cardboard box

I see you've changed the thread title to HOT from WARM. I guess there's just no denying it now. Warm just doesn't do that thermometer reading justice.

 

[TonyM]

I see you've changed the thread title to HOT from WARM

Yup, can't pretend it's just another warm day. We're all coping though. It's not the end of the world. Something else will be in the news tomorrow.

Personally, I'm hoping for a decent thunderstorm to photograph tonight

 

[Nigel]

Unofficial shade air temp in my north-facing back garden 40.1C

Congratulations, you made it to 40°C

I hope you don't now copy London and have everything burst into flames
Not too close to the moors are you?

and a cardboard box

If you are going to do this, make a Stevenson's Screen, that is what is used for all the professional ones, surprising how effective they are, even if made of cardboard, the important thing is that the air can blow through the box, while everything inside is in shade. With yours, the wind can't blow through. Works better with multiple layers of white paint, but plain cardboard will get close.

 

[TonyM]

I did notice that my Michelin Crossclimate+ all-season tyres felt noticeably more pliant when driving home this afternoon. I believe Michelin tested them to 40deg so no worries there.

 

[Nigel]

I did notice that my Michelin Crossclimate+ all-season tyres felt noticeably more pliant when driving home this afternoon. I believe Michelin tested them to 40deg so no worries there.

They may be tested to still work at 40, but they will not stop the car in the same distance as at normal temperatures, nowhere near!

The other issue is that human brains do not work at the same speed or accuracy when hot, and combined with the poor tyre grip and poor road surface grip, there is far more chance of accidents in this weather. People start driving a bit like they do in India, but without having had the practice

 

[TonyM]

Congratulations, you made it to 40°C

I hope you don't now copy London and have everything burst into flames
Not too close to the moors are you?

No, not too close to the moors. I expect they have loads of fire warning signs up there.

If you are going to do this, make a Stevenson's Screen, that is what is used for all the professional ones, surprising how effective they are, even if made of cardboard, the important thing is that the air can blow through the box, while everything inside is in shade. With yours, the wind can't blow through. Works better with multiple layers of white paint, but plain cardboard will get close.

I researched how the Met Office measures temperature with a Stevenson screen. However I only dedicated a few minutes to the task while I'm supposed to be working, so I'm happy enough. One day I might invest in a proper weather station with data logging, to go with my planned weather webcams.

 

[Nigel]

I researched how the Met Office measures temperature with a Stevenson screen. However I only dedicated a few minutes to the task while I'm supposed to be working, so I'm happy enough. One day I might invest in a proper weather station with data logging, to go with my planned weather webcams.

It's the Stevenson's Screen that is the important bit, any old thermometer inside will do a good job, but without the SS you will never be very close to met office figures.

I have one of these inside an SS, it keeps a log and sends over and under temperature alarms to my phone/watch, works remarkably well, even for something 10x the price! There are Bluetooth and wifi versions:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B086YYL439

 

[Dashmellow]

It's not the end of the world.

Well, not yet at any rate. It will depend on how much worse things might get.

Of course, it may not be the "end of the world" but it could well be the "end of the world as we know it".

We are on a trend line that is far from over.

 

[TonyM]

Congratulations, you made it to 40°C

I reckon the official figure is closer to 39. I'm not really bothered by the actual number. It was an interesting little experiment. I'll get my screen ready for next time, which might not be so very far away:

Met Office chief of science and technology Prof Stephen Belcher said exceeding 40C was "virtually impossible" in an undisrupted climate, but due to climate change "driven by greenhouse gasses" such extreme temperatures had become a reality.
He said if there continued to be high emissions "we could see temperatures like this every three years".

 

[Kremmen]

I've always wondered how these official temperature stations work.

They all appear to be small wood boxes on legs with louvre sides. I'd have thought once the full sun gets on them they'd heat up ?

Airport weather station stock image. Image of forecast - 20264957

Photo about Airport weather station on blue sky - copy space. Image of forecast, indicator, breeze - 20264957

www.dreamstime.com

I've got my outdoor temp receiver under an open porch cover that faces north so after about 11:00 it's in full shade shielded by the whole house.

 

[Nigel]

They all appear to be small wood boxes on legs with louvre sides. I'd have thought once the full sun gets on them they'd heat up ?

Yes, you would think that, but they don't!

Or at least they do warm up, but only by a small amount that is the same for all of them, hence why everyone still uses the same design after hundreds of years, if they changed the design and had trendy black metal ones then new figures wouldn't be comparable with older ones, and that would be very bad for the global warming trend graphs!

It is very important that they are all mounted at the same height, 1.5m, because temperature changes with height, and they should be in an open field, not against a building, although mine is next to a stone trackway for easy access and the only difference is that it is consistently 2 degrees warmer than the official met office one which is down in the bottom of the valley, doesn't get warm air rising up the valley side and sits where the cold air collects in winter. Our met office one temporarily got on the BBC news on Monday as the hottest place in Wales.

The louvers allow air to blow through, and even if there is no wind, the little sunshine heating on the outside of the box creates some upwards convection draft which keeps the thermometer at air temperature. If you are constructing one then it is important that the louvers overlap so that the sun can never shine inside unless it is below the horizon. They are always painted brilliant white so that they don't absorb the sun's heat, and you are supposed to put multiple layers of brilliant white paint on.

Surprisingly, size does not seem to matter, there is no specification for size. Met Office ones are quite big, mine is approximately a 20cm cube, ideal for modern digital thermometers. As long as the air can move through freely and the sun can't get inside and they are at the standard height then they work.

The little wooden legs are so that there is always air underneath, so heat/cold can't be conducted in through the bottom if you sit them on top of something, you are supposed to stand them on their legs even if you are mounting them on a pole, so you need to put a table on top of the pole to sit the SS on top of. And face the door northwards, so that when you open it the sun will not get in!

 

[kamkar]

Okay i am done for, and thats after yesterday doing nothing but sitting at the bench shooting my rifle all day, and then a little later run my train on the 1 track we have now gotten rerouted over the new bridge and then secured.

Another thing Dashcam related, yesterday as i set off from home i upped the parking guard timer in the A229 from 1 hour to 8 hours, and then at noon when i arrived at my friends place i parked in the sun / facing the sun, and then closed up the car.
And upon looking 5-6 hours later the camera still seemed to be doing parking guard, but i have yet to verify this will do that later today.

The A229 are also doing parking guard right now, and is parked facing the sun, but it will see shade sooner or later due to the buildings.

 

[kamkar]

So the record for July fell today, actually 10 places in Denmark beat the old record, with the new record being 35.9 deg C, the all time record are actually set in the month of August, so things can still happen.
And just for perspective 35 deg C temperatures have only been seen here 9 times since we started to take note of the weather well over a decade ago.