I remember it well. We were painting my wife's 2CV when the thunderbugs came out! You can imagine.... 😬

I've thought for some time we've gained a month of summer and lost a month of winter. But even I never expected to see 35C in May in by 2026.

Game changer? It will change games. Who can play cricket in 40C or then 45C? It will change a lot more than that. But, it didn't, and shouldn't, be happening - if only humanity had listened, or indeed listens.

We will have to adapt and I'm sure humanity will. But catastrophic climate change is on the way and I don't think we can stop it now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v2yv5207xo 

It was too late to do anything about it 20 years ago, TBH, even if all CO2 emissions stopped tomorrow there's still years of warming baked in as a new equilibrium is reached. The 1.5C goal is toast and, indeed, we've seen that much warming in 30 years!

The answer is, of course, to adapt as best we can and prepare for what lies ahead - you'll note the piece I posted about aircon being required in all schools within 25 years, and all hospitals within 10 years. It will become normal in homes, too. Similarly flood defenses will need to be improved, and a wholesale redesign of new houses will be required in the decades to come. 

The BBC has a podcast about "climate anxiety", as it's called:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct7035  ("What is climate anxiety and how can you cope with it?")

This year's event is just another reminder of how the bell curve has shifted right, and the spikiness it causes in warming in general as it does so. I also wouldn't be at all surprised if summer proper ends up being what most people would call mediocre, it's very rare to get two historic heatwaves in one year!

The Indians and Pakistanis

Yes, the lag effect is also a serious consideration. As you say, even if the world magically stopped emitting CO2 and other greenhouse gases tomorrow, the world would likely continue warming for another half a century or so, before levelling off.

Mitigation is now the main thing. Get the country ready for the predicted changes instead of spending billions in a futile effort of stopping it. And to be honest, as a heat lover, if warmer and longer summers, milder winters and more notable heat waves are what we end up with, I'll gladly and unapologetically go out of my way to make the most of and enjoy those things. Life is too short to spend it worrying about things you can't control.

And in fact Iver Waterworks pipped Heathrow with 32.11C vs 32.00C on the nose at Heathrow.

I've been thinking that. But then I never thought I'd see 35C in May.

As to taking action? It's never too late, or rather, inaction is to just give up. Humans don't tend to do that.

But it can be stopped, controlled. We know how to do it.  China is doing it. The rest of the world can do so too. Just sitting in the middle of the road saying 'who care's we can't stop it, we're  all going to die' is just to do a 'we can't sort out London's waste problem (because you wont listen to Bazelgette)' in the end we listened and we sorted it..

I suspect if we don't stop it, it wont stop. Then even you will be cooked 🙂

Can't agree with that one I'm afraid. I defy that anybody enjoys 40C - even Indian and Pakistani cricketers! It's also a killer for Northern Europeans, especially if they are elderly or have certain conditions like my wife who doesn't produce sweat and overheats quickly and gets ill. Any normal person should feel that 25C on a sunny day is more than hot enough! To me it's a bit like saying I like windy weather so lets hope we get more killer tornadoes. But I do agree we need to adapt and take measures to accommodate it. But that shouldn't be at the expense of acting to slow it down for future generations. It is becoming exponential now but we should strive to mitigate the rate in the future with targets like net zero, not for us, but for our future generations. Remember we don't actually know what it will be like if we don't eventually attenuate it - unless you like the idea of living on Venus!

A bit cooler than that here at that time (21.4C), but still a very stuffy night; it didn't go below 20C until just before 2AM. It's still 18.6 now, the blanket of cloud effectively trapping yesterday's stale heat. I note, wryly, that the band of rain that crossed the area overnight managed to break up over Sheppey, only to reform a few miles to the east. Sod's law! Some of the cracks in the lawn are an inch wide now...

Another very hot day on the way today (28 on the MetO raw, remember the average is 19 this time of year), a very warm weekend and then, finally, at long last, a run of near-average days early next week as the return of the westerlies / Euro monsoon sets in.

18.4C here which could be a record high minimum for May here, not checked yet. Coudy this morning, still no sign of rain. Cracks in the leaf covered lawn. I may see some rain over the weekend as I am going up to he Yorkshire Dales where I and they don't really need it!

001001:99 001002:433 001015:IVER W WKS AUTOMATIC 002001:0 004001:2026 004002:5 004003:28 004004:18 004005:0 005001:51.51240 006001:-0.49617 007030:30.0 007031:30.0 010004- 010051- 010061- 010063- 010062- 007004- 010009- 007032:1.25 012101:301.71 012103:288.61 013003:45 007032- 020001:41040 007032- 013023- 007032:0.00 020010:25 008002- 020011:2 020013:6100 020012- 020012- 020012- 008002:21 020011:2 020012- 020013:6100 008002:7 020054- 008002:8 020054- 008002:9 020054- 008002- 005021- 007021- 020012- 005021- 007021- 020062- 013013- 012113- 020003:508 004024:-6 020004- 020005- 004024:-24 014031- 004024:-1 014031- 007032- 004024:-12 013011- 004024:-1 013011- 007032:1.25 004024:-12 004024:0 012111:305.26 004024:-12 004024:0 012112:290.18 007032:0.00 002002:12 008021:2 004025:-10 011001:190 011002:2.0 008021- 004025:-10 011043:180 011041:4.3 004025:-60 011043:190 011041:6.4 007032- 004024:-24 002004- 013033- 004024:-1 014002- 014004- 014016- 014028- 014029- 014030- 004024:-24 014002- 014004- 014016- 014028- 014029- 014030- 004024- 004024- 012049-

That's not the spirit. What are you not going to do?

Seldom, in human history, have humans faced with a serious problem just given up.

I don't think anyone one on this site is giving up. We just have excepted the reality of what's to come. 

And I’m going to enjoy the drier weather and higher temps. Heat and humidity are my things. Love it. Far more people die from cold weather than hot, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any guilt-shaming for that on here. I get the heat is about a trend toward hotter and drier conditions, and it’s not just the UK, it’s globally, but the argument is a tad boring. As I said the other day, I’m sure we all do our bit, but nations and policies affect this sort of thing to a level that influences actually change. 

I certainly don't begrudge anyone enjoying the heat, I do.

We don't begrudge you enjoying dry and heat at all. I just don't get why you need 35C (other than the interesting stats) as opposed to 26C which is still very warm for most. Whilst we can't affect the weather it does sound like some are reveling in the fact that climate change is providing excessive heat. A bit of empathy for those that suffer wouldn't go amiss. I don't agree with the attitude that we can't do anything about it and it's up to Governments. We can do our small bits and vote for Governments that will do more.

Spot on, as ever, Fw.

Public pressure works.  My feeling is this hot spell has made a lot of the public think. 

The cesspit that is social media is doing it's best to counter that, but more heat will be along at some point - denial is just going to get more and more difficult and the bots are going to have to be reprogrammed to find new lines of attack..

I think this hot spell has changed things here on TWO too tbh. I (and others who have been concerned, worried even, for decades) used to get a lot of flak - not any more.