Temperature Comparison 1976

[Jeff Gaines]

I think somebody in here raised this recently, the BBC has put a comparison on its website:

[John Rumm]

From my memory of it, it was not the high temperature that was the most notable thing. The shear length of the drought, and the length of the heatwave were far more significant.

(Well that an the end of the pier burning down!)

[Brian Gaff]

Usually its got to be temperature wind chill and humidity that you need to figure out as its discomfort levels you are mentioning. If the air gets saturated with water there is little room left for you to evaporate sweat to cool down. Brian

[Chris Green]

Where we are, even though we're quite close to the coast in south Suffolk, the humidity in the hottest part of yesterday was pretty low at 30% or so. Thus it was far from unbearable as long as you kept hydrated.

We lived for 7 years in Oman, right on the gulf coast, that was daily temperatures 35-40 *and* high humidity, so back here in the UK is really comfortable! :-)

[alan_m]

I've been up there twice recently (boat trip* to the estuary forts and SS Mongomory and another across to Queenbourgh**) and they seem to be doing a lot of decking work on the pier but there is still bugger all worth visiting at the end of the (Southend) pier - lifeboat station and a conference hall that never is used. And, their brand new "green" electric trains seem to have been withdrawn from service and it's back to the diesel train(s).

*At least the pier entry free of £5+ was included in the 3 hour boat trip price of around £20

** Queenborough trip not recommended - a walk around the town and all it's sites will take you all of 10 minutes and of the 5 pubs most are closed during the day. The well publicised castle is just a field - all the stone was robbed out 100s of years ago :)

[alan_m]

On 19/07/2022 10:35, alan_m wrote: £20

and

[Andrew]

The Mail online website had some interesting photos of heatwaves past.

Notice the lack of fatties in the 1976 pics.

[Andrew]

And I contracted Hepatitis during the hottest part, while flat- sharing a top floor flat in Maida Vale, facing south with a slate roof and no insulation. Ugh.

[RJH]

There's a lot you can do to make the data fit your argument. For example,

1975's hottest month (August) had higher average highs than 1976 (24.6 vs !975s July 24C, Sheffield). It'll be interesting to see how 2022 pans out . . .

And couldn't they just rustle up a comparative line chart?!

[Andy Burns]

1976 was dry for a LONG time, long enough for splits to form on country roads as the dykes dried out, long enough for the water companies to start dishing out water-saving bags to shove in your cistern to reduce the size of the flush, and long enough for them to have "don't be a waterhog" stickers printed ...

[Bob Eager]

What do you expect? It's Sheppey!

[Bob Eager]

Can almost see the forts from our window.

[John Rumm]

I did the forts trip about 19 years ago on the Waverly[1] - that was quite entertaining. (although my daughter's main memory of the event (she was 3), was not the ship or the forts, but the doughnut she got while on the train to the end of the pier!)

[1]

So even more underwhelming than Hadleigh "castle" then?

[Rob H]

On Sunday evening, the temperature was 33C and humidity was 19% in my part of Leeds

[The Natural Philosopher]

The problem with all this 'hottest since records began' is that unfortunately records dont go back past the little ice age,when we know the world was in general a lot colder.

We don't know why, before CO2 emissions rose, the world started to get warmer.

Such increases as have been seen are consistent with unamplified CO2, i.,e not especially alarming and are not inconsistent with natural variation as seen in the historical records, such as there are.

So firstly, warming isnt that much, at all. Not in post ce age terms

Secondly there is no reason to suppose it is caused by CO2

Thirdly even if it is, the cost of next zero will exceed by a huge factor the cost of e,.g installling air con and planting grapes instead of plums

Fourthly since china and India wont stop burning coal why should we waste our money and destroy our nation on a pointless gesture

Finally, fossil fuel at competitive prices is a finite resource. we will have stopped using it long before CO2 get s high enough to make any difference.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If this temperature was 100% humidity it would be truly unbearable. As those who have been to tropical rainforest type climates will know.

Dry as it is (17%), its more like desert conditions and up to 50°C is pretty OK if you are hydrated

[alan_m]

A least Hadleigh has some of a castle that had not slipped down the hill :)

The last (only) time I went to the castle I came back to the near empty car park to find that someone had driven into my car door and then driven off :(

[Cursitor Doom]

The BBC? I wouldn't trust any figures from a source like that. As regards comparisons with '76, all anyone needs to know is that we were well into the 90s F for weeks on end. This is just a two-day hiccup but it's been blown out of *all* proportion by those desperate to push the AGW agenda. I hope the more clued-up here can see through it for what it is: a big NOTHING.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well it has been extremely hot today. so 24 hrs of really hot shit. Hot for UK anyway. Nothing for any country nearer to the equator or further from the sea.

E.g. look up Colorado city. In the USA. Or Denver

[zaq]

Lots of fools out in the sun in the hottest weather.

Can't get much more stupid than that.

'Mad dogs and englishmen out in the noonday sun'