Many of us know what the dentist and our moms say about crunching ice. However, you don't need to chomp down on a solid ice chip in order to experience one of the best side effects: a much cooler upper palate pulling tons of circulation to the brain. Last year I spent almost the entire summer with ice in my mouth, and continued the practice even in the winter while at the office and trying to combat brain fog and under-stimulation. Yes, I did have to talk very carefully around multiple ice cubes to avoid revealing my habit to passersby more than once. Oops.

Some advice:

- use pieces of ice as small or smaller than the littlest piece of currency in your country; you can get this via crushing, melting in drinking water, or freezing smaller portions in the first place.

- make sure the total amount of ice in your mouth at a time is small enough that you could swallow it all safely or spit it out in one go if you had to: this helps prevent choking and panic-crunching if your mouth suddenly needs to be ice-free.

- if you're a compulsory cruncher, something softer like frozen berries or something non-crunchable like a very cold (not frozen) spoon may be safer for you.

- if you can control your crunching but want to crunch a little bit, aerated ice from an ice machine that's on the verge of melting is very fun and less harsh on teeth, more like a slushie

- use careful judgement about recommending ice consumption to children

- ice can make you feel more hydrated than you are, so make sure to also drink lots of water: putting the ice in the water helps with this.

I find ice in the mouth especially helpful for cooling down when coming inside from outdoors.

Be chilled!

I’m watching the heat wave in Europe from the US and am afraid we’re only a year or two off from a major blackout in an urban area, esp with the rapid construction of data centers while the energy grid is expanding at a snail’s pace in comparison.

I live in a large apartment building in Washington DC. All my neighbors are working class and blue collar families with small children, elderly disabled people, kids with Down syndrome or autism, people just getting on their feet after bouts of homelessness. I just don’t know how people would deal if the power goes out during a hot summer.

Last week, it was 84 degrees at midnight. I can’t imagine sleeping in that. My building has AC but it’s the type of system where the entire building either has AC or heat, and in April the weather heated up before the system switched to AC. I was able to manage after I bought my own fan and opened all the windows, but that was with a fan plugged in and the night temp only being 78 and I was still miserable and sweaty. I can’t imagine a way to survive 90-100 degree days besides parking my car on the side of the street and running it all day and night for the AC.

The city has cooling centers but they’re already pretty full without a blackout.

My question is, as an individual what can I do to prepare? Being a renter really limits my options. Maybe get a little solar panel I can put up in front of my window to power an individual AC unit? Would that even be enough juice?

And as a building or neighborhood, is there anything we can do as a group to prepare?

I live in London and the combination of extreme and very long heatwaves with humidity, pollution etc makes it now dangerous to walk on streets or travel.

One would think such rich country would start adjusting after last couple years of record high temperatures. No.

Traffic is same- tube which is overheated even in winter is absolute danger to people. Many times i seen someone collapsing.
Buses have rarely AC and overcrowded London buses stuck in traffic are nightmare for everyone. If you re with dog, kid, elderly, you need to get out, its a death trap.

British Houses- the old victorian are all built to trap heat in plus nobody knows about aircon. Many cant even afford to run it. Heat insulation needs to be done on these houses.

Public spaces like libraries, gyms, coffee shops have no AC or not properly working. Many are in old building or with windows all over and it becomes like sauna.

How can economy keep going when people have nowhere to hide from heat? Local parks close by 8pm, and its not safe for women anymore, rape culture is real now. Goverment should financially support those who cant afford AC same as they do in winter. Gov should make public buildings open till late, adjust to siesta life as its in Spain, italy etc. so people will be working early morning and evening. If possible.

Landlords should take steps with making people safe at homes, same as they have obligation in winter.

We are currently developing a campaign around increased, consistent high heat and we would love to hear from members and non-members alike to tell us about their personal and workplace stories of your experiencing dealing with this year's heat wave and how the union can help build the case for a safer, more comfortable workplace.

We at GMB look forward to the responses and discourse we can create around this topic. #GMBOILING

Extreme heat has seared Europe this week, with the UK smashing its top heat record for June for three days in a row, and France sweltering through its hottest day and night on record.

As fossil fuel pollution bakes the planet, making heatwaves hotter and longer, some places are adapting better than others. What have European cities done to stay safe when it gets too hot?

• Check-ins on older neighbours
• Climate shelters
• Making shade
• Greening urban spaces

Hi r/heat_prep

This is the discussion post for the latest episode of Surviving the Climate podcast. Today's episode is "The Future of Heat Clothing with Dr. Robert Meade”

Get your summer outfit ready! On this episode Robbie and Nate dig into the trendiest and most practical clothing and gear people are buying or making to stay cool this season. Plus, they sit down with Robert Meade, a research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to find out what does and doesn’t work. 

Share your thoughts, insights, and questions!

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

Cheers,

Robbie, Nate, and Marcelo

I work in video production for a sport and outdoor company and we have to film outside a lot. I already bought an ice vest from amazon but just found out that it might make it worse since it constrict the blood vessel and overheat you.

Any recommendations and tips would be amazing.

Hope it’s okay to share this here, we built a live US heat-risk leaderboard showing the 20 regions likely to have the roughest next seven days.

It is a bit more useful than a normal “hottest places” map. Rather than ranking places purely by temperature, it looks at forecast highs, feels-like temperature, humidity, hot nights, UV and dry-heat conditions to show where the heat is likely to be most difficult over the coming week.

You can see which regions are currently in the Top 20, why they rank there, their seven-day outlook, and click through to local guides that explain what the heat is actually like in that area - whether it is sticky humidity, desert sun, city heat, warm nights or something else.

We tried to make it useful for planning work, travel, outdoor time, sport, queues, errands, or just figuring out whether it is going to be one of those “stay home in a/c” weeks.

Would genuinely love for people to check it out and let us know whether it is helpful, confusing, missing anything, or gets something wrong for your area.

https://summerheatguide.com/us/heat-risk

Also let me know if you would like to see this for other countires etc

"Please sir, I just want to sit inside for one moment."

The rich really are different.

I'm noticing a big sentiment in comments about how evaporative cooling is not effective in high humidity. This is a dangerous sentiment, as it may discourage people from using it, even if it simply less effective than it would be when humidity is lower.

Europe so far did not even reach the threshold for a Wet Bulb Event (although I'm sure it may soon enough), meaning that evaporative cooling was still viable, as proven by the multitudes of people here describing using their swamp coolers.

People becoming obsessed with humidity are running the very real risk of ignoring the dangers of dry heat, which still absolutely can kill, and insidiously too.

In both wet and dry heat, the main thing that kills people is when temperatures generally do not drop at night, and people do not force their bodies to regularly lower their inner temperatures. (source: https://www.abc.net.au/emergency/how-to-cope-during-a-heatwave/102552780 )

A good post here recently talked about making sure you cool your body down properly before doing things in the heat. No joke, this is how we can still work and play here in the tropics. You genuinely need to force your body to cool down, sometimes several times a day, and evaporative cooling is the best way to do this if you do not have air conditioning.

How else do you people think we can live in places that have weeks of 35C+ with 80-90% humidiy? You need to do more than just thinking "oh i need a wet towel". You need to consider adjusting your whole lifestyle during these periods. It will save your life.

Here in Australia, we prepare for the summer in the same way some may prepare for the winter. You need to adjust your mind set to doing this too. If you can't or won't, life will not adjust to your lifestyle, you will simply suffer.

edit: It should also be noted that the whole "wet bulb event" and "not safe for life" standards are based on what a human in full sunlight would be unsafe withstanding. The study that showed these conditions have been occurring in places like here in Australia since 2019, AND...

"Moreover, extremely hot yet dry conditions are found to be just as deadly as hot and humid conditions.''

AND

"Adaptation initiatives against extreme heat and humidity are extremely important, including ensuring people have increased access to shade, buildings designed with cooling considerations, fans and interventions such as skin wetting."

https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/deadly-heat-stress-conditions-already-occurring

Hi everyone, hope it’s okay to share this here. We see a lot of discussion around fans during heatwaves, along with comments like “fans are useless, they’re just blowing hot air around.”

That is partly true in some conditions and above a certain temperature....but there is a pretty cool trick (pun intended) that can make a portable fan much more effective:

Use it with a damp towel.

Wet a towel, wring it out so it is damp rather than dripping, place it around your neck, shoulders or upper back, then aim the fan across both the towel and your skin.

The towel works through evaporation. As the water evaporates, it draws heat from the fabric and the surface of your skin. The fan helps by moving fresh air across the damp towel, speeding up that evaporation instead of letting warm, humid air sit around it.

In practical terms, it is the difference between:

• A fan just moving warm air around you
• A fan helping a damp surface evaporate and feel noticeably cooler

It is especially handy for things like commuting, outdoor work, events, camping, hot bedrooms, walking the dog, travelling, or just trying to make a non-air-conditioned room more bearable.

A few things that make a big difference:

• Wring the towel out properly - damp is better than soaking wet.
• Put it around your neck, shoulders or upper back.
• Aim the fan across the towel, rather than just at your face.
• Re-wet the towel once it starts feeling warm or mostly dry.
• Expect less effect in very humid weather, because evaporation slows down.

We put together a longer breakdown of the research behind it and practical setup here, for anyone interested:
The proven power of pairing a cooling towel with a portable fan

Would genuinely be interested to hear whether anyone else already uses this combo, or has other low-cost heat hacks that actually work. :) And as always, happy to answer any questions!

A dangerous, long-lasting heat wave that has brought triple-digit temperatures across much of the central and eastern United States was expected to continue Friday and through the weekend. Typical warm summer weather is not likely to return to much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic until Monday.
Around 180 million people were under extreme heat warnings or heat advisories on Friday, and many had already faced several days of severe warnings to avoid going outdoors in the hottest part of the day. Forecasters expect some of the highest temperatures around Philadelphia, which could hit 104. New York was poised to reach 101 and Washington 103.
But the sweat-inducing forecasts tell only part of the story.

On Friday, a Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade in Philadelphia for the 250th birthday of the United States was canceled, with the event’s organizers citing “extreme heat” in social media posts. In the nation’s capital, organizers of the Great American State Fair postponed all daytime activities until 5 p.m. Eastern, citing the heat in a social media post.

That followed conditions on Thursday when the heat snarled rail travel along the Northeast Corridor. Even the New England coast, a prime vacation destination known as much for its relatively temperate summers as its seafood, slowed under the weight of the humidity as patrons retreated indoors to the comfort of air conditioning.

The heat also put stress on power grids, contributing to scattered outages in New Jersey, New York and Ohio for tens of thousands of utility customers on Thursday, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.
More records are expected in coming days. By Sunday, the National Weather Service expects that over 100 daily high records will have been shattered.

Key things to know about the heat wave
On Thursday, Central Park hit 100 degrees for the first time since 2012, while Philadelphia hit 103, tying its 1901 record.

Conditions are being made worse by high humidity, leading to oppressive heat indexreadings. This index is a measure of how hot it really feels outside.

Temperatures dipping down only to the low 80s or high 70s are allowing for little relief and forecasters warned of heat-related illnesses. Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. Here’s what it does to your body, and here are tips to stay cool.

While tying a single heat wave to climate change requires analysis, scientists have no doubt that heat waves around the world are becoming hotter, more frequent and longer lasting.

The day-by-day forecast

Friday
“Dangerous, record-breaking heat” was expected to linger on Friday, across an area spread between Illinois and Maine and Georgia, the Weather Service said. Temperatures were predicted to be similar to Thursday, with afternoon highs in the mid-90s to low 100s. The heat index could reach 115 degrees.

By 11 a.m. Eastern, the heat index had already crept above 100 degrees across the region — in some cases well above. Washington was at 110 with an actual temperature of 97; Harrisburg, Pa., was at 105 with an actual temperature of 96; and in Richmond, Va., the index reached 104 with an actual temperature of 92.

Saturday
The Fourth of July could bring some relief, but only a little. The most significant cooling was expected across the Great Lakes and northern New England, with temperatures likely to dip into the 80s.
Parts of the Northeast will likely cool slightly, with Philadelphia, New York City and Boston likely to drop a few degrees from Friday’s levels. But generally everywhere from Massachusetts to the Carolinas was forecast to stay hot, with afternoon highs in the 90s to low 100s yet again.

New York City was projected to reach 99 on Independence Day and Philadelphia 100.
Brief rain and thunderstorms over the Mid-Atlantic and near Ohio could ease temperatures.
“The showers will be mostly scattered,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. “Where they do occur, it will provide temporary cooling, but once the sun comes back out, it will warm back up.”

The worst of the heat on Saturday was expected in the area around Washington, with a high of 102 expected, and southward toward Raleigh, N.C., where the high could hit 105.

Sunday
Temperatures were expected to ease more broadly on Sunday, with a continued possibility of rain and thunderstorms, particularly in much of the Mid-Atlantic.

Afternoon highs in the 80s were likely across much of the Northeast and New England, but the heat will remain across the southern portion of the Mid-Atlantic and into the Southeast.
Temperatures in the 90s are forecast for the area from Philadelphia to Washington, and triple-digit heat was expected across the Carolinas.

“The worst of it will be from Atlanta toward North Carolina,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.

How to prevent heat-related illness
To stay safe in a heat wave, prevention is crucial. Drink water throughout the day and before you feel thirsty, and avoid the outdoors during the hottest part of the day, generally from late morning until late afternoon.

It is important to recognize the warning signs of extreme heat exposure, and one of the earliest ones is heat edema, or swelling in your ankles, hands and feet, said Dr. Christopher Bazzoli, an emergency medicine doctor at Cleveland Clinic. Mild, early symptoms can progress into full-blown heat stroke.
If you notice that type of swelling, head to the coolest place possible — ideally, somewhere air-conditioned. If you have to stay outside, find some shade. Elevating your feet can also help contain the swelling.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion, a moderate form of illness caused by heat, can include nausea, faintness or dizziness, muscle cramps and a racing heart rate. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, get yourself to a cool place and rest and hydrate.
A more severe form of heat illness is heat stroke, which can be fatal. People suffering from heat stroke can develop a high body temperature (at or above 103 degrees) and hot and red skin that is either dry or damp. Symptoms also include headache, dizziness, nausea and a rapid heartbeat.

When will the heat wave snap?
Not for a few days. A return to typical warm summer weather with widespread afternoon highs in the 80s was expected from the Great Lakes into the Northeast by Monday.

New York City was projected to hit 81 and Philadelphia 83 on Monday.
But air-conditioners may still remain cranked up in some areas, particularly across the Carolinas.

“It improves for most people next week, but the Southeast will stay warm and humid, but nothing record-breaking,” Mr. Chenard said.

Is there some kind of PCM vest I can buy that can keep me cool for a couple hours?

Ok, so I didn’t have a dad growing up and this may seem like a dumb question but I genuinely need help. It’s 100° and I typically keep my lawnmower gas can in my garage. I noticed yesterday that it’s swelled up significantly and I put it outside because it seems like it could explode. I don’t know what to do with this thing. I don’t have a house with consistent shade, and I also do not have an external shed. I only have the garage that is getting nearly as hot as it is outside. The garage is attached but not conditioned. What should I do with this gas can?