Extreme High Temperatures

I was in Athens a couple of years ago and the highest temperature was 43 degrees. It was fooking horrible, especially being stuck in the middle of a concrete jungle. It was a case of running from one air conditioned building to the next. Even 10 minutes in the sun would leave you a sweaty mess!

I read they hit 51 degrees in northern India last week, it must have been unbearable.

I lived in Southern California for a while, in an area of paved over desert. There was regularly 10-15 days of 100-108F so 38-42 range, and a couple of days it might have hit 43. A day or two here or there is ok, but that's punishing heat over a couple of weeks. You are constantly switching between air conditioned buildings/cars and extreme heat. It played havoc with my digestive system to the point that I stopped eating lunch and often breakfast. I'd snack on small bits through the day, but built around a single meal in the evening when it was cooler. Even at that, if I ate out, I would probably expell quite urgently within an hour or two. I wouldn't move there, or hotter parts of Australia, or to the Middle East permanently for this reason, even if everyone was complementing me on how slim I looked :P.

It's all relative though. I was working in London during a heatwave last summer - there were regular days of up to 30 degrees but the heat in the city, and especially the tube, was oppressive although the evenings were very pleasant. I've also been to Florida a couple of times, and 30 C there with high humidity is pretty awful. I'd have taken dry heat in California at 40 degrees over London/Florida at 30 degrees any day.

The hottest temperatures I've experienced was 46 degrees in Furnace Creek (in Death Valley). 40+ is routine May to September there, and the heat was oppressive but we were only passing through and stopped for a couple of hours. You're 200ft below sea level there. Again, fine to visit but not to live in.

If you're ever looking for extreme differences, you can drive from Death Valley to the Tioga Pass in the Sierra nevadas in about 4 hours. It's an amazing drive and you can go from 40+ in death valley to below zero, and from -200ft to 9800ft in elevation in half a day. The pass is closed in winter (it connects with the Yosemite area) but if you catch it just after it opens (usually May/June) you'll be standing in your shorts looking at frozen lakes and snow, within hours of baking in death valley.

DOCARCH wrote: »

The first part of that video is scary! I wouldn't like to be on the upper floors of some of those houses/buildings with cars and vans crashing into the ground floor walls!

indeed, Im surprised it isn't getting any coverage , it looks terrible

Worst I experienced was 36c in Lanzarote of August 2014.

xabi wrote: »

Spent a week of 40+ in Oz, one night the low was 35, no air con, slept on a tiled floor to keep cool.

Oh god :eek:

Had 40 c in New Mexico a couple of years ago. The air was so dry my nose kept bleeding. Couldnt move with the heat. One of the locals told me to drink lots of warm drinks and take loads of salt. Helped but like above, give me 40 below rather than 40 above.

I have experienced extremely hot temperatures in Australia, USA and parts of Europe. But the one occasion that springs to mind was 2 weeks I spent in Tunisia. It hit 44c over a 5 day period. 4 workers in neighbouring hotels died from the heat over those few days.

Hottest was in the UAE, 48 degrees. Couldn't stand out in it for even a second. The actual worst to bear was Malaysia where it was cooler, like mid 30s, but really intense humidity.

Coldest was north of Finland. -36. oddly enough once you are moving about and dressed in winter gear it's actually quite pleasant. -2 on a wet winter's night in Donegal is far less bearable.