40+ People Drown Attempting To Escape Deadly Heat Wave In Europe

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

It's weird because this time Eastern Europe is hot, but not extreme-extreme hot as previous summers.

Western Europe is expericing Eastern Europe-levels of heat, but Eastern Europe is not experiencing the extreme so far. That said, my heat tolerance is incredibly low so I still suffer.

[Economy 52,854]

2 hours ago, 27monster27 said:

If we want to stop global warming at this point, then we need to start looking past morality. We need to start raiding data centers and factories to get the message across. If laws don't do anything, then the people must.

What if u wipe out ppls banking info or something

[Economy 52,854]

2 hours ago, Lord Mayhem said:

But yes...global warming isn't real 

Its real but extreme weather aberations are hard to pinpoint and can also happen outside of climate change. There were simmilar heat outbreaks in Europe about every 3 decades going back to records in 1940s. So I wonder if theres also just some unique pattern or cycle causing that

[Bronco 25,127]

2 hours ago, Mars said:

Every aspect of life seems so doomed at the moment, Im honestly starting to struggle understanding how people arent totally fuming and outraged.

They are.

But the rich have spent decades ensuring the rage is focused at each other rather than at the actual problems.

[Bronco 25,127]

31 minutes ago, Economy said:

Its real but extreme weather aberations are hard to pinpoint and can also happen outside of climate change. There were simmilar heat outbreaks in Europe about every 3 decades going back to records in 1940s. So I wonder if theres also just some unique pattern or cycle causing that

I mean I wouldn't call them similar. Because they were short & anomalies.

Like the famous 1976 UK heatwave peaked at 35.6 C. And we had 15 consecutive days of 32.2 C weather.

But that wasn't repeated for years afterwards. 

Now, this is a yearly summer occurrence and its warmer each time. And in Europe this is beginning earlier, in the 2023 heatwaves we were seeing record April temperatures and July was the warmest month ever recorded.

2024 Europe had its first heatwave in the spring. The heatwaves continued until August. Numerous temperature records were broken. 62,000 heat wave related deaths across Europe.

2025 saw heatwaves run from April to September. Again, temperature records set only the year before got broken. And we had wildfires in Europe on a scale I've never seen before. 

And now in 2026, the same is happening again. Tomorrow the UK is predicted to hit 40C in some places for the very first time. Its worse in Europe. 

Like its no longer freak summer heatwaves every x amount of years. Its now the norm and Europe is just not prepared for it in the slightest sadly, and its already impacting the food supply.

 

[Ashley 10,236]

3 hours ago, robboadam said:

I own my own home in London and looked into getting AC in one room - it’d cost me £4000 (like 6/7000 dollars). I understand why AC isn’t common in Europe.

Is there access to portable or window unit air conditioners there? 

[JohnnyVersace 9,276]

serious question- why do Europeans not just get a window unit? 

I live in NYC where they're very common and cost a couple hundred bucks 

 

[DESTROY UR DISEASE 19,758]

and that's when we're still in june

I don't wanna know what july is going to look like

[robboadam 2,554]

So I dunno about Europe as a whole, but our windows in the UK don’t suit window AC units. So they have to be specially designed ones, and that bumps the price up as they’re designed for US primarily 

Portable ones - yes, we have them and actually more and more people in London use them. But they are massively inefficient, see:

And also, you have to keep windows open, and depending on where you live, you’ll then just have mozzies and midges coming in.

[Economy 52,854]

2 hours ago, JohnnyVersace said:

serious question- why do Europeans not just get a window unit? 

I live in NYC where they're very common and cost a couple hundred bucks 

 

Having lived in Europe and now in Canada heres my perpective on the differences

 

#1 less of a market for them so units are a bit more expensive

#2 in most European Countries the electricity to run them itself if more expensive

#3 Depending on the Country, the number of really hot and humid days is more manageable. For example in Portugal summer highs are comperable to Toronto but less days are humid and night time temperatures fall more allowing a chance for house to cool

#4 home construction uses cement in most EU Countries. Concret is more of a pain to heat but it does keep homes cooler. Temperatures drop quickly in the home at night especially if you open the windows and warm up slowly in the day if you keep it shut

5. Combine less of a need with the fact that culturally it has not been the norm to have them, and people accept a few unconformatable days in the summer as the norm and put up with it. 

6. Ill add that the building architectures and windows in some cities may also make ACs more awkard to install. Not impossible but a further deterent for a population already used to living without them

 

Of course this is Portugal, there are wealthier EU Nations that I honestly expected to have higher AC rates despite the factors I mentioned

 

Here in Canada virtually every home from 1960s/1970s onward was built with Central AC. Those that werent or were built earlier usually people added in the Portable window ones (which is what my family did In Toronto before we moved out to a newer home in the suburbs that had Central)

 

I cant imagine life without AC. But in Europe most people I knew considered it an unnecessairy luxury. Even my family members that are more well off and could afford it if they really wanted to dont have AC

[Poker 3,770]

1 hour ago, Economy said:

Having lived in Europe and now in Canada heres my perpective on the differences

 

#1 less of a market for them so units are a bit more expensive

#2 in most European Countries the electricity to run them itself if more expensive

#3 Depending on the Country, the number of really hot and humid days is more manageable. For example in Portugal summer highs are comperable to Toronto but less days are humid and night time temperatures fall more allowing a chance for house to cool

#4 home construction uses cement in most EU Countries. Concret is more of a pain to heat but it does keep homes cooler. Temperatures drop quickly in the home at night especially if you open the windows and warm up slowly in the day if you keep it shut

5. Combine less of a need with the fact that culturally it has not been the norm to have them, and people accept a few unconformatable days in the summer as the norm and put up with it. 

6. Ill add that the building architectures and windows in some cities may also make ACs more awkard to install. Not impossible but a further deterent for a population already used to living without them

 

Of course this is Portugal, there are wealthier EU Nations that I honestly expected to have higher AC rates despite the factors I mentioned

 

Here in Canada virtually every home from 1960s/1970s onward was built with Central AC. Those that werent or were built earlier usually people added in the Portable window ones (which is what my family did In Toronto before we moved out to a newer home in the suburbs that had Central)

 

I cant imagine life without AC. But in Europe most people I knew considered it an unnecessairy luxury. Even my family members that are more well off and could afford it if they really wanted to dont have AC

Wow this is really interesting to know. I would have thought it was similar to the US where they have the window units.

I live in Argentina and having at least one AC in the household is very common. Electricity service is quite affordable too so I'm surprised the situation is different in Europe.

[doppelganger 4,021]

36-38 degrees is common in my country but this year is warmer than usual 

[PartySick 172,539]

The climate and infrastructure disparity between NA and EU is so interesting.

A couple days ago we had a "real feel" outside of 115°F/46°C. Usually afternoon thunderstorms would cool us off to about 80°F/26°C within an hour but Florida's currently blanketed with Saharan dust so the air is too dry for storms.

Still, the worst impacts are limiting outdoor events (like the games in Miami), kennel closures, and general heat advisories. We even have "cooling stations" available for public use for people who are out and about or people who don't have homes to shelter in.

I don't really understand why air conditioning/indoor climate control isn't a normal thing for all homes? It's not revolutionary technology, 90% of homes in the US have AC, and I feel like Europe experiences enough of these devastating heat waves to warrant putting a unit in.

[Purrrrrr 18,099]

21 hours ago, nATAH said:

omg you can get a much cheaper one than that, you don't need a whole unit installed

my friend has one where you just put water/ice in a tray underneath and it's like £200+

those ones barely work any better than a fan though 

[Bronco 25,127]

13 hours ago, PartySick said:

I don't really understand why air conditioning/indoor climate control isn't a normal thing for all homes? It's not revolutionary technology, 90% of homes in the US have AC, and I feel like Europe experiences enough of these devastating heat waves to warrant putting a unit in.

I mean, when I was growing up and in highschool so 00s/early 10s. Our summers in the UK averaged out at the mid 20s. With the occasional peak days of like 30-32C. Like a heatwave when I was a kid was like 25C.

Its only really in the last 10 years & especially the last 5 where our summers are consistently higher and more consistently hitting the 30C and up range for heatwaves. 

So the need for it is newer here and ACs are still expensive af because they aren't at a point of being a large scale industry/well established. Plus most housing is older, 30yrs+ age wise as a minimum and designed for a considerably cooler climate.