Europe braces for sweltering July
www.esa.int
Temperatures are sizzling across Europe this week amid an intense and prolonged period of heat. And it’s only just begun. Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Poland are all facing a major heatwave with air temperatures expected to climb to 48°C on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia – potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.

An anticyclone – a high-pressure area – named Cerberus (named after the monster from Dante’s Inferno) coming from the south will cause temperatures to rise above 40°C across much of Italy. This comes after a spring and early summer full of storms and floods.

The highest temperature in European history was broken on 11 August 2021, when a temperature of 48.8°C was recorded in Floridia, an Italian town in the Sicilian province of Syracuse. That record may be broken again in the coming days.

  • @Enigma@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12•1 year ago

    Some tips from someone who is used to daily 40C+ temps.

    -There is a drink called Pedialite, usually found in the baby foods section (in America). See if there’s something similar, it’s like sports drinks but better. Keep yourself hydrated. In heat like that, you won’t realize how bad it is until you’re already dead. They also have popsicles, which is honestly so refreshing if you’re going to be in the heat.

    • Do your best to keep your skin covered. Swamp ass, egh I get it. But skin cancer and 3rd degree burns are worse.

    -Wear gloves if your car sits out in the sun all day. You *will * get 3rd degree burns trying to get into your car and/or trying to put your seatbelt on.

    • Drink abnormal amounts of water.

    -Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Teach your friends, family, coworkers.

    • And again, stay hydrated. The majority of heat related deaths occur because they didn’t drink enough water.

    Good luck!

        • VeganPizza69 ⓋEnglish
          4•1 year ago

          Heat exhaustion means you’ve probably been trying to sweat and thus lost minerals. If you drink too much normal water, you can dilute the minerals even more and thus aggravate a condition known as: Hyponatremia (salt insufficiency) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia#True_hyponatremia

          The thing with hyponatremia is that it’s very similar to heat stroke in terms of symptoms, but drinking water makes it worse. See: Dehydration, Heat Stroke, or Hyponatremia? The Recognition, Treatment, and Prevention of Hyponatremia Caused by High Exercise Outdoor Activities. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED443633

          So figuring it out requires knowing some context, what went on before. Or you can hydrate slowly with an ORS like the ones mentioned around here (ending with -lyte) or make your own ORS. Or you can eat some stuff, get some salty nuts, eat some fruits, as a way to stock up when the day looks risky.

          I’m not certain, but I think I did get hyponatremia once while hiking in the mountains in summer heat. I drank a lot of spring water in a day, like… 10-20% of my body weight and was still thirsty, and didn’t even really need to urinate, since I was losing so much water through sweat. It was very exhausting. I only felt better at the end of the day when I downed a large bottle of cheap green soda. And later, at home, when I drank A LOT of cold soup straight out of the pot. It just felt necessary, so I’m just figuring it out in hindsight.

    • livus
      4•1 year ago

      Pedialyte is a brand of oral rehydration salts. Pharmacies usually sell ORS to treat dehydration.

      • @variaatio@sopuli.xyz
        1•1 year ago

        Though as cheaper preventative would be just electrolyte sports drink. Meant for same thing just for sports caused sweating. However sweating is sweating.

        Main thing is one can buy electrolyte sports drink by big drink mix powder jar, instead of expensive single pack.

        One just has to be carefull to buy the actual rehydration drink mix instead of the normal sports drink. The normal sports drink isn’t as optimal as thirst killer, since container alottaa of calories. It does also usually contain rehydration sales, but as said heck of energy bomb to be drink by bottle full outside of hard exercising. Where is pure rehydration drink has just set of salts and then maybe some flavoring and food color (because obviously sports drink is supposed to be acid green)

        Ofcourse most likely not exactingly proportioned and controlled as actual ORS from pharmacy, since ORS would be done to medicine production standards.

      • @Enigma@sh.itjust.works
        1•1 year ago

        Hey, thanks for expounding on Pedialite! Didn’t know there was a specific name for it. Im going to tuck that nugget of information away to forget about it the next time I recommend it.

        • livus
          6•1 year ago

          My pleasure. I don’t know how you regularly cope with 40C+, I get upset if it gets to 30C (or below 10).

    • @Thadrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4•1 year ago

      you won’t realize how bad it is until you’re already dead

      Not sure you’ll be realizing it even then.

      I’ll see myself out