With much of England facing its second heatwave of the year, Americans have been given yet more opportunities to laugh at the UK’s ineffectual attempts to cope with scorching temperatures.
Southern and central England are due for very hot weather over the next few days, with London and the south east forecast to reach over 34°C at its peak.
While the British public discusses the best places to buy fans, ice and picnic food, Americans have been known to mock us.
“Call this hot,” they say. “You Brits don’t know the meaning of a heatwave.” But here’s why the UK suffers more in the heat.
Lack of air-con
On the face of it, American have a point. Summer temperatures in Miami, for instance, regularly reach the low-to-mid-thirties, while in Dallas it is due to reach 36°C on Sunday.
The difference, though, is that these cities are used to such temperatures and so their homes and workplaces have been designed around them. When Spain plays Saudi Arabia in Dallas on Sunday, it will be inside a fully air-conditioned stadium with its retractable roof firmly closed.
In fact, nine out of 10 US homes have air-conditioning, compared with two out of 10 in the UK. That may change in future, as the UK government has recently extended grants for heat pumps to include “air-to-air” models, which can also function as air con.
But for now, most Brits have to battle heatwaves armed just with carefully positioned fans and judicious opening and closing of windows and curtains.
Americans don’t generally stint on using their air con either, as the price of electricity there is relatively cheap.
The US passion for air con is so great that public venues can be kept almost uncomfortably cold for a Brit, as many football fans visiting for the World Cup are currently finding out.
Brick homes designed to store heat
Not only do most British homes lack air con, they are constructed to keep the heat in, thanks to our moist climate. While US houses are often made from timber, UK houses are usually brick. “They are designed to protect us from winter,” said Dr Mehri Khosravi, an energy expert at the University of East London.
If you have ever leant against a brick wall on a sunny day, you’ll know how well bricks retain heat. Canny gardeners often grow fruit trees like peaches against south-facing brick walls for this reason.
This is why a prolonged period of hot weather leads to higher daytime and night-time temperatures, because the very bones of your house are storing up thermal energy. The current heatwave is predicted to last at least until the end of next week for south east England.
Ice lollies are bliss when the temperature rises (Photo: Catherine Falls/Getty Images/Moment RF)Homes in Southern Europe can also cope with heat better. As electricity tends to be more expensive in Europe, there may be less use of air con, and more “passive” cooling systems, which means homes naturally retain less heat because of the way they are built.
Those whitewashed walls don’t just make for great holiday photos – they reflect the sun’s rays – while heavy shutters or blinds shield windows. Floors may be tile or marble, which are good conductors of heat and so they feel cool to bare feet.
Humidity makes everything worse
Buildings aside, a British heatwave can also be hard to cope with because humidity tends to be high in the UK, as we are surrounded by the sea.
Under higher humidity, it is harder for sweat to evaporate from the body, our main way of losing heat. “When you have air around the body that has high levels of water, it becomes much harder for the body to cool itself down,” said Dr Radhika Khosla, a climatologist at the University of Oxford.
High humidity, as well as low wind levels, can be why forecasters sometimes say that the temperature feels one or two degrees higher than the actual air temperature.
In the current UK heatwave, the humidity is high, and is set to reach more than 80 per cent this weekend in London. In Arizona, one of the hottest US states, it is generally about 40 per cent, meaning it will feel less muggy and unpleasant.
So, give us a break, Americans. Not everything has to be a competition, but when it comes to heat stress levels, this is one contest the UK is set to win.
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