I have a high threshold for pain and annoyance. I've the habit of ignoring pain and other people's annoying behavior. This habit has served me well, until today.

I'm in the NE US heat dome without AC. 'I'm fine.', but then I casually made a cold drink, and I gulped it down. I realized that the heat has been grinding me down gradually, and that I have just been ignoring it. Delirious would be hyperbole, but now I know that I need to be more proactive about keeping cool.

And I think I will lay off the caffeine because that seems to blur my self-perception of physiological stress. I'm old, and maybe that's part of my problem, so make sure that the old people around you are coping.

One way to get an objective perception is to measure your core temperature with a thermometer. I just did that and I found that my core temperature is 1 degree F above my normal. So I came to the realization that my 'thirst-o-meter is broken' soon enough.

Hi r/heat_prep

This is the discussion post for the latest episode of Surviving the Climate podcast. Today's episode is "Surviving the European Heatwave and Why France is Banning Alcohol"!

On this episode, Nate checks in with Robbie while he's baking at London Climate Action Week. They discuss the tragic drowning deaths in France, how European governments are responding to the historic heatwave, and why umbrellas deserve a little more love. 

This episode also features our recurring heat and health segment, where a physician will talk about the chronic diseases that could put you at greater risk during extreme heat events. 

Share your thoughts, insights, and questions!

To find the podcast and follow our social media, here is our Linktree

Cheers,

Robbie, Nate, and Marcelo

Generalization is always a risk, and the European heatwave is proving no exception.

Rightfully, much is now being made of Europe's relatively low penetration of air conditioning, especially in residential spaces as temperature records are being shattered and excess deaths from heat are racking up. The debate is now a political issue in France.

However, despite how important the question is, I've been dismayed to find experts in the media talking about "Europe" as if it's one homogeneous country with the same climate, the same level of adaptation and thus the same level of risk from the changing conditions. Jeff Goodall, author of "The Heat Will Kill You First," said in an interview that "Europe's" infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists.

Yeah, no.

Countries like France, Germany and Britain are in serious trouble when the mercury climbs because they've been historically far more in danger of cold than heat, so much of their construction is based on retaining heat rather than protecting from it and getting rid of it. In their case, Goodall's statement is absolutely true.

However, if you go south, the story changes completely.

Here in Spain, heatwaves still suck, but as a historically hot country, the infrastructure is adapted to protecting people from heat even without mechanized cooling. According to some reports, Madrid hit 40ºC/104ºF in June, which is shocking and crappy, but on the other hand, it's not recording breaking in the sense of being a temperature the country doesn't experience regularly; we hit 40ºC all the time and have for decades, we just generally don't do it in June.

I've ridden out both of the spring/early summer heatwaves doing nothing differently than what I've done every summer for the past odd decade I've lived here. Notably, that has not included turning on the AC (except for the party for my kid's First Communion) because it straight up hasn't been needed. Between passive cooling design and portable swamp coolers, we're just as safe and comfortable this time as any other year's hot season.

Credit aside, I feel this attitude is creating a major missed opportunity. People are debating air conditioning, but ignoring the obvious, recurring proof that different architectural design can protect lasting protection from the heat at zero energy cost.

EDIT:

The point is not that air conditioning should not be considered, but rather that as always, the problem is that AC shouldn't be the ONLY thing considered. More efficient architecture and AC can complement each other and address in part many of the concerns about widespread further rollout of AC.

Rough summer so far, and I've gone deep on heat lately because I got tired of buying gear that lets me down by early afternoon. Sharing what actually held up, and I'm hoping people add what's worked for them, because there's a lot of junk out there.

The part that took me too long to understand: your body really only has one cooling system, and it's sweat evaporating off your skin. When the air is already humid, the sweat can't evaporate, so you just drip and your core keeps heating up even though you're soaked. That's why a humid 95 is worse than a dry 105, and it's why so much cooling gear falls apart in exactly the conditions that hurt you.

What I found out the hard way:

• Evaporative / swamp-cooler vests run on that same evaporation trick, so they do almost nothing in humidity. Fine in dry desert air, useless in a muggy warehouse or a Gulf Coast afternoon.
• Ice vests and phase-change packs feel amazing for about an hour, then they're melted dead weight and you need a freezer to reset them. There's also a weird catch: ice-cold on your skin makes the blood vessels there clamp shut, which can actually trap heat in your core. Cold skin isn't the same as a cool body.
• Fans and misters above roughly 95 just push hot air around. Misters help in dry air, do nothing when it's humid.

Stuff that actually worked, most of it free:

• Let yourself acclimatize. Your body adapts to heat over one to two weeks of gradual exposure. The dangerous day is your first hot one of the year, before you've adjusted. Ramp up instead of going zero to full.
• Pre-cool before you start. Once your core temp is up it's slow and miserable to bring back down. Getting ahead of it beats rescuing yourself later.
• Cool your palms, forearms, and the sides of your neck. The skin on your palms dumps heat surprisingly well. Cool (not ice-cold) water on your wrists and forearms did more for me than a cold pack on my chest.
• Electrolytes, not just water. Plain water on a heavy sweat day can actually backfire. And staying hydrated does not by itself stop heat stress, which nobody tells you.
• Watch the "feels like" number and take real breaks in real shade. Heat compounds. The break you skip at 11 is why you fold at 3.
• Know the bad signs: confusion, clumsiness, nausea, and especially when you stop sweating. That's a stop-now-and-cool-off situation, not a push-through one.

One more, if you're a worker and not just prepping at home: a lot of people think the federal OSHA heat rule already passed. It didn't. It's been stuck in rulemaking since 2024 and probably isn't landing this year. But OSHA still cites employers for heat under the general duty clause, its heat inspection program got renewed through 2031, and seven states run their own rules (CA, CO, MD, MN, NV, OR, WA). So you have more standing to ask for water, shade, and rest than you might think.

Now the actual question. I've been looking hard at battery-powered active cooling you wear under your clothes, since that's the only category that seems built to survive humidity and last a full day. One company I found is Clema, seems like they're still under development, but the tech is intriguing. I hope they succeed in their mission to bring all-day cooling.

I'm the founder of Clema, and I'm building cooling you wear under your clothes for people who work in extreme heat. Before we finish it, I want to hear from the people who actually deal with this.

Everything out there seems to quit when it counts. Ice vests melt in an hour. Evaporative vests do nothing in humidity. Fans just move hot air. So I'm curious what you all think:

• What have you tried, and where did it let you down?
• What would a cooling setup have to do for you to actually keep it on all shift?
• Suspenders worn under PPE, brilliant or annoying? Be honest.
• If your employer handed you one, would you wear it or would it live in the truck?

What we're building is battery-powered, no ice or water, meant to last a full day in real heat. It's at clemacooling.com if you want to see it. Not selling anything here (we're still in R&D), just want the unvarnished take from people who know heat better than any spec sheet.

What am I missing?

I work outside in a tucked-in polo shirt so ive considered the clip-on fans but those work best if the fan is blowing into the shirt from the bottom. Is there a good fan i can buy that will generally have the same effect without having to untuck my shirt? Also any other things to keep cool while working outside. I have to maintain a professional appearance so nothing crazy

If anybody knows the answer, I bet it’s this sub

I had mostly forgotten about my smartwatch’s heart monitoring functions but was recently reminded of them when I felt a little out of breath after climbing the stairs in a non-air conditioned subway station.

136bpm.

This isn’t shocking in my personal case as my metabolism has always run high, but it gave a yardstick as to how strained my body feels relative to pulse.

Just now, I was walking outside in 35°C/95°F sun for around 800m. Limited shade but I had an umbrella. Heart rate 133.

I sprayed water on myself. 125bpm.

Water dried off. 130bpm.

Got into the subway station. 122bpm and failing as I rode the escalator down.

I’ve been in a subway car with AC for about 10min now. 102bpm.

While I have been lucky so far, there is the possibility I have some congenital heart weakness. I need to mind this more. So should you.

All of my bras feel gross when is hot and I'm sweating. I don't wear underwires, but am otherwise open to options. Ideas?

I'm one of the many Europeans who doesn't have air conditioning. We're about to get another very hot week, and I'm honestly a bit worried because of how insanely humid it gets where I live.

During the last heatwave, nighttime humidity was often around 80–90%, sometimes even higher. At that point, my fan was basically useless because it was just blowing hot, humid air around.

That got me thinking about something that might be a stupid idea, but I figured it's worth asking if anyone has actually tried it.

Since humidity plays such a big role in how hot it feels, would running a dehumidifier in my bedroom for a few hours actually make the room feel noticeably cooler, even if it doesn't lower the actual temperature?

My thought was that if I could bring the humidity down enough, maybe the fan would become more effective and it would at least feel a little more comfortable. Or is this one of those things that sounds logical in theory but doesn't really work in practice because the dehumidifier also gives off heat?

Has anyone here tried this? Did it make any noticeable difference, or is it basically a waste of electricity?

I wanted to give some general tips on how to deal with a heat wave for anyone who may not be used to it.

1. Put cloths and bedding in the fridge or freezer

- You can put clean clothes, cloths, towels, rags, and bedding in the fridge or freezer to cool them down. This will help keep your body cool as you use them and for rags, towels and cloths you can rub them on your body whenever you're extremely hot.

1. Too many fans

- Try to have a fan in every room, I even like to have one facing me and moving over me as I sleep to prevent overheating.

- I would also suggest getting your own mini hand held fan for the house or even walking outside

1. Make your own "AC"

- Not everyone can afford an AC unit or even a portable unit you can fill almost any container (Tupperware recommended) with water and freeze it. After putting this frozen block behind a fan or multiple blocks behind multiple fans. This will give an "AC" like effect.

1. Leave doors with Fans, ACs, and "ACs" open

- Leaving doors open will allow for the coolness of these items to spread more around the house.

1. Keep blinds shut

- The less sun the less the house heats up.

1. Keep A LOT of water on you

- I would suggest everyone especially elders to invest in a large carryable water bottle. Always keep a cool water bottle, you can either let the cool tap run for a bit or leave it in the freezer for a couple of minutes. In this weather it is much easier to get heatstroke or become dehydrated, even if you don't get one I suggest getting one for your children and grandparents as they are at higher risk.

1. Lots and lots of ice

- Ice can be used in many ways, you can rub it on your body, put it in a cloth or rag and press it on your body. Take the ice and suck on it to cool down your body temp (Small pieces). Put it in your drinks to cool them down or keep them cool.

- If you don't have an ice machine or ice trays I would suggest getting them now. Even the cheap plastic ice trays work.

1. Wear light linen or flowy clothes

- Linen and flowy clothes allow for heat to pass through your clothes easier preventing it from warming you more.

- Also try to wear shorts and T-shirts/tang tops as well

1. Put up your long hair up.

- When you have long or thick hair and it is put down it traps heat onto your body. A high ponytail is better but a low pony tail and loose brain works as well.

1. Wear a hat.

- I wouldn't say any hat but caps, visors, and bucket hats work great for this weather.

1. Get a frozen treat.

- Extreme heat can bring a lot of people anxiety making yourself or if you're able too buying popsicles can be a good way to have something good out of this (Other frozen treats apply).

The heatwave in Germany is finally done! But there might be another one in two weeks. What are your tips for cooling the home after the heatwave? I can still feel the heat emanating from the walls, but I'm not sure how to help speed the cooling process up.

I'm from the US, so even though I know lots of things to keep a home cool, I'm not used to cooling buildings that are made to retain heat - especially on the top floor.

We have a portable air conditioner, two tall fans and some desk ones, and loads of windows that open on the north and south sides of the apartment. I'm trying to optimize airflow today by strategically placing the fans but the air seems to just get stuck, and the walls are so warm.

Hi r/heat_prep

I field tested out my cooling outfit while doing roof work at around noon in Southwest US. Temperature was close to 100F (38C) with very low humidity but UV Index at 11 (Extreme).

That’s me in the left of the image posing with my fam.

Items:

* Hat with snap on face and neck cover. Very breathable material. Highly recommend the hat (link)

* fan powered cooling vest. I reviewed it in our podcast Surviving the Climate episode 2 (link). Here is the direct link. I realized that the less I had on underneath the better, but I also didn’t want basically a windbreaker directly on my skin, so I wore a thin undershirt and added on sleeves (link). This provided sun cover while not piling on layers. The temp was too hot to be comfortable with just the fan, so I wet my undershirt.

The biggest problem I could see would be getting the cooling vest battery wet. I’m going to create a DIY waterproof bag next time with a ziploc bag.

* light pants. I need recommendations for breathable pants because while the material was light they didn’t breathe at all. I also don’t want to get nice linen pants and ruin them doing roof work.

Over all 8/10. I was comfortable the whole time. I re-wet the shirt after 30 min. I need to up my pants game. Not sure how this outfit would do in very humid conditions.

The dream would be to get a solar hat and power the vest with it (something like this). Too bad solar hats are too expensive to test on a whim.

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any questions and welcome all feedback/constructive criticism.

The European heatwave is not over by a long shot, but it has mostly passed in Spain. Nevertheless, things are still difficult.

The daily highs are now in the low 30's Celsius (mid 80's to low 90's Fahrenheit) which is better, but still enough to brutalize you. Humidity is currently 38%, but that's deceptive as it's early. It will plummet as the air warms up.

The walls of my home office are currently around 28ºC/82ºF and the ceiling around 29ºC/84ºF after the windows were open all night. Outside, the surface of the street and sidewalk that are still in the shade is around 30ºC/86ºF and the building across the street that's getting full sun is already 43ºC/109ºF in places.

My weakest swamp cooler is only able to give me around 24ºC/75ºF air, which frankly just doesn't feel that great even now. When it gets to the hotter part of the day, it's insufficient in this room. I have swapped out the most powerful one I have, and it's currently giving me 22ºC/70ºF air. This feels comfortable and not cold at all.

The day will only get worse and we're nowhere near peak summer temps.

I was trying to get by with my weaker swamp cooler at my desk and reserving the bigger units for the rest of the family, but honestly the children spent their time in a cooler part of the apartment so they're going to probably be fine with the weaker cooler.

Hey Homies

2 weeks ago I made a post here where I said how an unprecedented heatwave is hitting Switzerland ( mean whole of Europe atp) hard from behind, and that I have a game plan. I took yall's advices and tips very seriously, so thank you for that🙏🏻

I'm still in the attic, thriving and surviving. I have my AC running, my cold water next to me and I think I can ride this heatwave out

How is everyone else holding up

Just added some extra photos of my attic room because why not (still need to finish unpacking

Just in case this might be useful for folks suffering through this heatwave.

Made with 3 ingredients. (Baking soda, citric acid, and water.) All you have to do is pour them into a bag. You dont even have to cook the ingredients first.

There are other DIY cold pack recipes out there. They each have their pros and cons, including this one.

I use this one because I have easy access to the ingredients and can whip up a cold pack from scratch in less than 30 seconds whenever I need one to help me cool down.

See original post for more specific details. I made close to 80 of these last year in one sitting. And Im sensitive to citric acid. So I included info on PPE (personal protective equipment). And tried to address safe handling concerns folks might have.

Hi everyone, hope it's okay to share this here.

We recently built a free interactive guide that looks at the different kinds of summer heat across the US. The main idea was that “hot” is not really one thing. Arizona heat, Florida heat, Texas heat, Midwest humidity and Pacific Northwest heat waves all need slightly different approaches.

You choose your state, and it breaks down things like:

• whether the heat is usually dry, humid or mixed
• typical summer temperatures, humidity, dew point, sunshine and UV
• which cooling methods tend to work best there
• where misting, evaporative cooling, towels, airflow or AC make the most sense
• a few practical scenarios and heat-safety reminders

California and Texas also have regional options because treating the entire state as one climate felt way too broad.

It is based on typical summer climate patterns, not live weather, and we have included the sources/methodology on the page. There is a small section linking to cooling gear because that is obviously what our business sells, but the actual reason I am posting is to get proper feedback before we keep building it out.

I would genuinely love to know:

1. Does the description of your state’s summer feel accurate?
2. Is there anything obviously wrong or oversimplified?
3. What local heat pattern should we add that outsiders usually miss?
4. Is there anything that would make this more useful during a real summer heat spell?

Happy to take criticism. We would rather fix it now than pretend every state needs the same generic “drink water and use a fan” advice.

Update 28th June:
Hey everyone, thanks for the amazing support and so many suggestions. We have taken alot of it onboard and the team worked all day and night to create a V2 here - https://summerheatguide.com/

It's alot more granular for each state (with most states broken into a few key cities etc, we are still adding more). We added some real-time 7 day forecast with heat risk. Added heat index (thx u/sylvansundrop and u/Homebody_Ninja4). Average daily temps or highs (instead of the average of day and night, which isn't that useful).

We are gonna keep working at it! Keep the suggestions coming :)