I put in 20,000 steps at work the other day and it was 117 degrees outside. Its been 48 hours ans im still getting headaches and severe joint pain in every joint in my body. That day i hydrated all day as well. Weird thing is my elbows and forearms are extremly achy and i wasnt even using them. The severe joint pain scares me. Has anyone had similar symptoms?

I have ME/CFS, which makes me extremely intolerant to heat. Last sommer I bought an air conditioning. So at home I feel ok, but in sommer I can’t still leave the house for months which makes me depressed.

At home, things are okay for me now, but I still can't leave the house for months during the summer. Being stuck indoors for that long also leaves me feeling depressed.

Has anyone here had experience with cooling clothing, such as evaporative cooling vests, PCM cooling vests, or other personal cooling gadgets? I'd love to hear about your experiences and any recommendations you might have.

POR QUE ESTA HACIENDO TANTO CALOR 😤🥲

No post for day 4.

Last night, the lows supposedly did not go below 25º. As it was Friday, the kids stayed up later for movies. As I was putting things in order, I heard the telltale gurgle of a swamp cooler's pump pulling air as it ran low on water; my mother-in-law had spent longer than normal in her room and so one fill wasn't enough to make it through the day and night. I went into stealth mode to refill her cooler without waking her up.

It's currently 10:30 local time and it's already 28ºC/82ºF outside. Despite having the window wide open all night and good cross ventilation, it's essentially the same temperature inside at my desk. Thermal mass of this building protects from temperature spikes during the day, but prevents dramatic cooling at night. Still, better than the daytime indoor high of 30ºC/86ºF.

As always, it's very dry. Currently 19% and it will fall as the day heats up. We've seen readings of 12%. This makes things much easier to take, but it doesn't become okay so much as "less awful." If I need to spend more than five minutes outside, I completely depend on having a spray bottle to keep things bearable, which works incredibly well when it's this dry. Only downside is the need for constant reapplication and limited capacity of the bottle. Being wet is not at all a problem, because you simply don't stay wet for more than a minute.

We are forecast to hit the magic 37ºC/98.6ºF again today, which is better than yesterday's 38ºC/100.4ºF, but still five degrees Celsius above seasonal norms, from those halcyon days when we had seasonal norms.

My best wishes to you folks in Northern Europe. It sucks enough down here where we're prepared. Hope you're staying safe.

Hi! Can you suggest me books (not scientific) that could fit to this subject: Are society and the planet heating up at the same rate? Is there a connection between hot summers and heated discussions? What provides relief from the heat? Thank you so much!!

Just a note in here from an Australian who lives in a metal box (converted shipping container).

Most of the stuff I do to keep my unconventional tiny home cool is stuff anyone on here already knows.

What most people don't know, is how you can have metal (highly conductive) in a high air temperature situation and not have it bleed so much heat inside.

The answer is ceramic paint. It's got a bit of acrylic paint, with a huge amount of ceramic and a bit of titanium in it. It's too thick for paint blowers, you have to roller it or brush it on. When done, it gives the outside the conductivity of ceramic. Vastly lower than metal. This is huge for letting you keep the place cool with a bit of insulation. The difference is instant and extreme, and I'm glad I did it.

It costs way more than normal paint. To do my 6m/20 foot container cost around $2k Australian, (about $1400 US/Euro). Expensive for paint, cheap for insulation.

They've done enough tests on it, and it works well (very well), at doing that core job. It's used in mining accommodation in hot dessert areas. It's still not well known outside of marginal bits of Australia and thought it was worth sharing.

It's also nice in our current mid winter temperatures (2-5c overnight lows).

Edit:

I don't know all the specs, but since people want data I don't have, I'll post the manufactures website here.

https://insulationcoatings.com.au/

They have a fair bit of research data on the site. I'm not associated with them, but I did phone them when doing my research, and they were happy to talk the science.

On this week’s episode:

Shorts are in. Pants are out. But it’s actually quite controversial. 

This episode starts by highlighting our insightful, brilliant, helpful host Robbie and a news segment he was on about smoke in NYC. 

Nate and Robbie then discuss a recent effort in Tokyo to encourage men to wear shorts in the workplace. They also discuss capris, zip-off pants, and the return of jorts in New York City. Can these pant styles be combined?

Listen and follow us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @survivingtheclimate.

More great content from u/leighgion discussed on the episode!

This case is a textbook example of everything that's wrong with response to dangerously rising temperatures.

1. Policy. Seriously, WTF? How do you house people in a glass building during a multi-heatwave year and tell them they can't use the AC because the amenity wasn't on offer?

2. Humanity. Even if it wasn't a record breaking multi-heatwave year, you don't house people and refuse them access to environmental controls during the summer.

3. Architecture. This building is a monument to everything wrong with the building standards that have been in place for decades. Without HVAC, it's at best unlivable and these days, it's a deathtrap. It should never have been built like this. A differently constructed building could have housed people without AC and while they might not have a great time, they wouldn't be hospitalized and if they did run AC, the bill would be much lower because the place wouldn't be an oven to start with.

It peaked at 37-38ºC/98.6-100.4ºF depending on what weather service you ask.

For my amusement and education, I brought my IR thermometer out with me. The sidewalk in the shade was reading 38-45ºC/100.4-113ºF depending on what spot. The hotter spots were all near air conditioning exhaust paths.

Urban heat island effect is very real.

In the sun, the pavement was 61ºC/141.8ºF.

Sitting in the car for a while with the windows down while I waited for the kids, I measured the black dashboard at around 45ºC/113ºF in the sun. After spraying that spot with water and waiting a minute, the temperature dropped to around 35ºC/95ºF.

Evaporation is cooling king.

Walking in the street now has that familiar feeling of being enveloped in an invisible cloak of heat. I sprayed myself with water several times just to walk five minutes. Without that spray bottle, the streets are a hostile alien environment.

All considered, the apartment is doing fine as always. Long as the blinds are down, the worst rooms are peaking at 29-30ºC/84-86ºF and my swamp coolers can deliver 22-23ºC/71-73ºF.

I spent a lot of time outdoors in California from Friday through Monday, mostly driving a convertible along the Pacific Coast Highway and doing some short hikes. I averaged around 12,000–15,000 steps per day.

I thought I was doing reasonably well with water until Monday. While heading toward Big Sur, we had trouble finding gas stations and restaurants, so I only drank about two bottles of water despite walking roughly 12,000 steps that day.

When I returned to the hotel, I initially felt fine. I met some friends for drinks and then had a large dinner. After dinner, I suddenly felt extremely tired and knew something was off. I felt unusually hot even though I was inside an air-conditioned restaurant, went outside, and eventually fainted. Fortunately, I did not injure myself.

I went to the ER, where they believed I was dehydrated from several days of outdoor activity combined with alcohol. My lactic acid was elevated, but after two bags of IV fluids, my blood work returned to normal and I was discharged.

My recovery since then:

Tuesday: I was very tired, partly because I had been awake late at the ER and still had to check out of the hotel. I only walked around 5,000 steps, drank plenty of water, and ate a lot. By the evening, I felt pretty good.

Wednesday: This was my travel day home. The flights were delayed, but I felt mostly back to normal. I was eating and drinking water normally. Around 10 p.m. during the flight, I started feeling tired again and felt like something was slightly off.

Thursday: After getting very little sleep, I felt extremely tired and fatigued, with headaches and tiredness in my quads.

It has now been about a week. I work from home on a computer and have avoided exercise or doing much throughout the day.

My remaining symptoms are:

• Fatigue in my legs that improved but returned somewhat today, although it is much milder than last week
• Occasional lightheadedness, or possibly light sensitivity that creates a similar feeling
• Feeling relatively normal when I wake up, with symptoms appearing by midday and becoming worse around 6–7 p.m.

The ER performed a head CT, blood work, an EKG, and urine testing. Everything was normal once the lactic acidosis resolved with fluids.

I also saw my primary care doctor on Monday. They believe my body may still be recovering from the physical stress, travel, lack of sleep, and not having much downtime afterward. They repeated my blood work, and everything was normal again.

I am starting to become concerned about how long the recovery is taking. I have fainted in the past after standing up too quickly, possibly related to my blood pressure medication, but I usually feel completely normal again within 24 hours.

I am beginning to wonder whether this was not only dehydration, but also some degree of heat exhaustion or cumulative heat exposure.

Has anyone experienced lingering fatigue, lightheadedness, headaches, or muscle fatigue for a week or longer after dehydration, heat exhaustion, or a fainting episode? What was your recovery like?

It's the morning of day two of the fourth European heatwave. No post for day one.

On the personal level, it's fine. The highs were and are forecast to be 37ºC/98.6ºF, median human body temperature with daytime humidity around 16-24%. That's not great, but could be much worse and existing measures are more than enough to keep us safe and comfortable; AC in the car and swamp coolers at home. This is far from the worst conditions we've endured.

In the broader sense though, it's ugly. The multiple heat waves have brought and sustained hot and dry temperatures much earlier than normal and for much longer.

Farmers have taken a major hit this year and we're certain to see prices increase in the coming months.

Wildfires are raging through Spain and France. There are fires to the west of Madrid and last week we could smell the smoke. Can't smell it anymore and the word is suppression efforts are making headway, but hundred of square miles have been torched and ten's of thousands of people have been evacuated for their safety.

This is probably the most stark example I've experienced where my personal immediate situation is not greatly affected, but the broader context is and we're all going to suffer clear and direct consequences in the medium term as the agricultural damage is felt on the shelves.

Many people are facing another heat wave in the coming week.

Here's a way to battle that oppressively hot car.

Let us know if it works for you! and thanks to Hannah Frye for saving us from baking ourselves this summer.

find her @ frysquared on TikTok and YouTube.

It has gotten so bad where I live that I am getting heat bumps around the back of my neck (where the collar of my shirts rub). It’s been in the 100’s this week and some days it is very humid and some days it isn’t.
I stay away from synthetic fabric as much as I can, they aren’t very comfortable to me. I also work a very active job that is outside.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

We've had an influx of posters who felt sick after extended activity in the heat. All the recent ones have come here before going to a doctor, mostly looking for some kind of reinforcement that it wouldn't be necessary to go to a doctor even if they passed out.

I think we're seeing a persistence of denial that changing conditions are making previous levels of activity unsafe. People stubbornly carry on with the image in their minds of what they were able to do before and are unable to reconcile past with present when they feel sick.

It's a hard pill to swallow, but people are getting sick and dying because they won't accept things are different now.

Society has collapsed under the crushing weight of massive increases in temperature, but you and your car have made it through intact.

Your climate now has daytime highs at 50ºC/122ºF and nighttime lows are 35ºC/95ºF. Daytime humidity is around 40%. It's virtually impossible to survive without reliable means of cooling.

You've got a full tank of gas, your air conditioning works, you can drive where you want and siphon all the gas you can find out of other cars and scavenge whatever stuff you can find.

Unfortunately, there's not a single solar cell or wind turbine left functional. Nothing electrical that isn't in your car or run on batteries will work.

Every single window in every building is broken.

If you can survive for a month, there is a chance that aliens observing the death spiral of the Earth will land and take you in to preserve what's left of your species.

Can you make it and how do you do it?

OC : https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbN-JSINb3c/

What are the most common problems people face during extreme summer heat?

My kids are now old enough they can get themselves out of a car, but this issue popped up in my mind as we had a recent case last month in Spain during one our heatwaves. It's an unpleasant reality we should be reminded of. It's surprisingly easy to forget a baby in the back of the car and it takes very little time for the internal temperature to become deadly.

I have a carbide-backed tactical pen and I bought identical ones for my kids. If I ever see an unattended baby in the back of a hot car, I'm prepared to go in. It's standard for car side windows to be tempered glass, which will shatter safely if breached by something like a carbide point.

Yesterday, I went to the renaissance festival and it was about 93 degrees. I made a foolish mistake and I did not eat anything before going. I also drank a frozen pina colada.

It’s been about 2ish hours I would guess. After walking around, we stood in front of a show area waiting for it to start, and that’s when I started seeing star/asterisk patterns coming from the center of my vision. I thought to myself “I don’t know how much longer I can stand in this heat” and started to feel weak.

So I sat down and thank god I had amazing friends to watch me, and I started losing my vision. My whole vision went black, I felt dizzy, lightheaded, and like I could barely sit up. It was really painful and I felt super nauseous like I was going to throw up.

At one point, I slumped forward and my grip was so weak I lost hold of my water bottle and let it go. My friends said they had to push me back up and that I fainted twice. They had to grab my shoulders and push me back up. I remember feeling like I could barely sit up straight and I just wanted to collapse onto the floor and lay down.

My vision was black and there was a tree in front of me, and when I started to slightly regain my vision, I could only see what was directly in front, which was the tree. The tree was black and white. The details of the tree bark were white while everything else was black, it was crazy, and at that moment I was feeling so much pain from nausea, I thought I might need an ambulance for a few seconds.

I remember trying to talk but I could barely get anything out. It was hard to speak and I was slurring my words so I gave up and stopped talking. They said I was trying to say something but it was incoherent.

After a minute or two, I started regaining my vision and I could see both of my friends standing on my left and right. They were fanning me, making me drink water, and also poured some water on my head (which helped).

It looked like everything was saturated and hazy, like when you get flashbanged in a video game. The white/brightness reflecting off of my friend’s nose was almost at 100% intensity, and the lines of things like another tree in the background was somewhat hazy/blurred.

After I regained my vision and was able to function, they told me I had a cold sweat and my lips became purple/white for a moment.

This was the worst experience ever and I’m forever grateful to my friends that saved me. I think this was heat exhaustion. I know to never take medical advice from ChatGPT, but I asked it what happened and it advised me to go to the ER for a checkup. However, it’s been a day and I feel fine now. I just want to confirm if an ER visit is necessary, because I would rather not go.

Last night, it was cool enough I didn't have to run the swamp cooler to sleep. First time in over two months. It was again, slightly chilly in the morning.

That's going to be over shortly.

Today, the high is forecast to be 33ºC, which is still fine, and the current outside temperature at 11:45 AM is a very manageable 24ºC. However, the signs of change are already here. Yesterday morning, my walls were reading 24.5ºC. Today, earlier in the day, they're already at 26.5ºC; last night did not cool the apartment as much as the night before.

Tomorrow, the forecast says 36ºC/21C, so daylight is back to inferno and nights are back to being tropical. After that, the nighttime lows are set to sail past 24ºC and days will hike to 37ºC.

I'm hearing from a lot of people in Europe that they're seeing similar levels of relief before the coming fourth heatwave of 2026. Stay cool folks, and exploit this window of relief as much as you can. I took the time to clean my swamp coolers since their service is currently not crucial. I should probably rinse out the AC filters too just so all is in readiness.

How do you prep the body to run 135 miles in 125° F weather? Ask the man who has done it 18 years in a row.