Heat wave across Germany & most of western Europe

Germany and most of the Western Europe is experiencing a blistering heat wave. I read that meteorologists are predicting 38 degree Celsius in parts of Germany for tomorrow as the hottest day in the year and this month as the hottest July in a century. Both the temperature and the humidity are expected to go up.

There have been several deaths reported in Netherlands and France. Italy is experiencing one of its worst droughts and I fear we might again see those wild forest fires of the likes we had in Portugal. London underground was sweltering at around 47 and some city buses recorded temperatures over and around 50 degrees.

Worst of all my office which is already several degrees hot than normal (because it’s attached to a chemical lab) has no air conditioning and that sucks!

Yahoo! Weather forecast for Berlin

Here's to hoping fewer people die than did in the European heat-wave of 2003 (14,802 in France, ~20,000 in Italy, etc.). Hopefully this time governments will be better prepared.

Heatwave breaks record for July - BBC News

I spoke to a firefighter in Northern Ireland, he said it was going to be really hot, like 25°C . He also fears that he will be fighting brushfires all weekend.

Europeans are such pussies. I was in Pasadena a couple days ago, and it was 41, which is pretty average this time of year.*

*This comment was naturally tongue-in-cheek, as I recognize you sillies haven't yet discovered the virtues of air conditioning.

god, IPJ, don't even start on about Germans and there f*ing phobia about air-con. Drives me f*ing nuts. sitting here sweltering, no-one really concentrating properly just because they might pick up some mystery virus.

it's ridiculous...every year i was in england and they were going on about the "heatwave" in spain and how people were dying all over the place...it's bullshit...it was just normal summers...summer=heat...

Our cooling system (water pipes in the ceiling) is working - almost too well. We have to keep moving so that our toes don't become hypothermic.

pirulero, in 2003 even the Spanish media were reporting the heat wave.

They should pass a law that every home and place of business install an AC unit.

Oh yeah that'll help global warming!
Enjoy the weather, if you're hot have a cold beer! It will soon be snowing thus giving you all something else to whinge about!

Not everywhere should have an A/C due to as Allerhausen said, global warming.

However, when its hot, I find my normal avenues of respite are not available. At home, when it was hot, the supermarkets, cinemas and shopping centres all had decent air conditioning and was a means to escape the heat.

Here, I find that some supermarkets and most cinemas dont have A/C and it becomes an oven rather than a haven.

NO AC needed here...the mold sucks, but at least it's always cool in this apartment...fucking cold in winter...oh well...still looking for a new apartment, I can handle the heat.

I would think theaters would at least have AC...that'd be rediculous to sweat to death watching a movie...yet somewhat fitting during the new pirates...

Have you all noticed how heavy the sunshine feels? Didn't Einstein have a theory that light has weight? Or is it just the heat contracting my skin and putting pressure on my nerves?

The german explanation for no a/c starts with "we don't need it", "it makes you sick", "we don't like it" and finally "it's too expensive" ( the truth only comes out in the end ).

Last week was bloody hot enough. The office I work in has 5 people and 9 computers. The room next door that houses the printer has a/c but a manager ( other than mine ) reprimanded me for leaving our door and the printer room door open to try and blow some cool air into our office.

Enough was enough. I had just bought a nice little a/c unit from Obi for the apartment ( on sale 300 Euro ). Just headed back there and got another one for the office. Now the jerk-off who reprimanded me tries to come into our office and cool off. I tell him to get lost.

Today one of the jerk-offs workers came and took our no-longer needed fans to direct cool air from the printer room into theirs. Sometimes these people can be so lame!

I've been in cooler saunas than my office, friggin oven in here and it get's unbareable after 13:00- bloody glass building.

Is there a maximum temperature where you can refuse to work?

I'm not complaining, this is one of the best summers I can remember ever having in Munich. I was in Aix en Provence this week and it was bloody hot there! But the wine was excellent. It's time to head to the Isar...nice not having to work

Me either It may be hot for a few weeks (well, it is summer), but it is so so much better than last summer. Will take a super hot summer vs a cold/rainy summer anytime

Find a nice cinema that has A/C and go see Hui Buh this afternoon if the heat is too much for you

Hui Buh Das Schlossgespenst - Michael Bully Herbig

I like nice hot summers and cold winters, so I'm not complaining too much either. Its nice on the weekends, but when you're in an office working I agree that its getting a bit hot. Some A/C would really make this perfect..

Ahhh Geez! What a load of crap this is!! "Heat Wave" my ass!! If you are a softy then stay out of the fucking sun man!!

@ RB-Tee, I think that's just the problem - we are all staying out of the sun in offices that tend to heat up. For my part, I'd rather be in the sun with a Maß,
a Radi and a Brezn than in a stuffy, overheated office. But our water-cooled ceiling keeps the temp here at 20°C so I'm not complaining.

Our Betriebsrat (Works Council) are quoting the following to us from the Arbeitsschutzgesetz (Labour Protection Laws) ..though i'm not sure if this is a Guideline or binding (Apologies to non-German speakers but I don't have time to translate)

ergo-online

Go to --> Arbeitsumgebung und Beleuchtung then to --> Sommerhitze


Note...I am not a lawyer - just a minion - and this is 2nd-hand information. I just know the company are providing us with free ice cream all day today ...which is a step in the right direction ! Roll on the summer !

If the heat is really that unbearable (near 45 and no wind blowing, or maybe just sitting in a stuffy office) I have found that it helps to just wet the back of your neck and wrists with some water (do not dry) and have one of those little fans blow on you...

I hear there is a maximum temperature for a working environment. However, in reality there is little you can do to enforce it ( just like the smoking laws that put the onus on enforcement at the betriebsrat level ).

Three years ago when Europe had that massive heat-wave that killed 20,000 people, we were looking around on the internet trying to find the maximum office temp allowed. We couldn't find it.

However, we did find the maximum temperature you can ship pigs to slaughter - 38 degrees. We measured 43 in the office on a number of days that year.

Have to turn the fans off, the heat that they blow around is unbearable. It's like that blast of heat you get when you open a really hot oven. I've had to walk outside a few times or I'd collapse!

This is disappointing to hear. Is it really that common to have no aircon in business offices- or is it mainly just with small companies? How about on trains? I have yet to come across an English train with aircon- I lost 40% of my body fat while traveling to London yesterday due to the sauna effect. Then again, I shouldn't complain- what an efficient way to go! Beats wasting time in the gym any day...

I work for one Munich's largest companies and we do not have aircon in our office, although some other offices from our company do.

Somewhere in Bavaria (edit: Neu-Ulm) two woman at a public swimming pool got into a fight as to who got to sit in the shade. The 36-yr-old ended up slugging the 48-yr-old, police was called in, the aggressor has been charged. I'll look for it in the newspaper, brb.

But how could that happen Sarabyrd? Surely another German had got there at 5am and put a towel down already before wandering off until 6pm.

Serious breach of towel protocol !

Aircon working a treat here in O2

Just as well really when you consider how lax some IT workers are about personal hygiene!!

Christ! It's time to stage a mutiny! The workers must rise up and revolt...

sit in one of the cars and turn on the aircon OG

we just like to wander into the equipment room, seems servers and exchanges are more important than humans as that is the only place which has aircon in our company, also one of the largest concerns in germany!

one of the smaller munich companies, we have aircon.
unfortunately our windows are facing south and south west as well as the computers distribute a lof of heat... :-(

It depends on the building, not on the company, whether you have air-conditioning. Most new buildings, out in the industrial parks, have aircon. Most impressive old buildings in the middle of the city don't. Just a rough rule of thumb. The same goes for trains. New trains have aircon, old ones don't.

I just heard on the news that the health department is recommending you keep your windows closed during the middle of the day, airing the rooms only in the mornings and evenings, due to the high level of ozone in the air. As you aren't likely to get much of a breeze or fresh air today, you may as well. Or at least only occasionally open it.

Were watching some German T.V. and it seems that some places is 46-47 today. The man on the show was walking around taking the temperature of diff. places and took the temperature in the van thingie a Dönner man is working and this poor guy has to endure a very hot 49 degrees!!!

Dude, my company is a Frankfurt bank. The executive level has a/c - the rest of the building does not. Even the biggest skyscrapers in Frankfurt have all of the windows open today ( except the top one or two floors - where the executives are ).

During the 2003 heat wave, an executive came down ( brought along some kind of external management consultant ) and asked us if we had any suggestions as to things we needed to do our jobs. I suggested putting in a/c - he quite quickly told me they priced it out and "it was too expensive". He quite quickly got the hell out of there.

I am really happy ( and so are my 4 co-workers ) that I picked up an a/c unit last week. Should have done it 3 years ago - but at that time couldn't even find one in this third world country.

Fortunately with the world cup happening last month, Obi had the idea some businesses may want to spend some money to help bring in some of the foreigners to spend some money ( few actually did ). In my world 300 euros for such comfort as I am experiencing now is a drop in the bucket!

Hope this might help somebody get out of work

Laut Arbeitsschutzgesetz muss das Unternehmen dafür sorgen, dass die Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz nicht gefährdet wird. Als Richtlinie gilt eine Temperatur von 26 Grad Celsius. Allerdings: Wenn es draußen deutlich heißer ist, kann auch eine höhere Innentemperatur zulässig sein. "Verschiedene Gerichte haben entschieden, dass ein Unterschied von sechs Grad zwischen Innen- und Außentemperatur vorliegen muss", erläutert Christoph Burgmer, Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht. Sind draußen beispielsweise 34 Grad, dürfen es im Büro 28 Grad sein.

ZDF

Nice bit of research there Leky. So as it seems to be around 29 degrees right now, anyone with a temperature of less than 26 in the office has to sit and live with it.

wow sweating my 'nads off here, should be sat in a beer garden instead of doing washing but you can only turn t shirts inside out so often

Just think of all the poor souls working in breweries right now...! Seriously one goes from 40+ degree heat in the Kettlehouse to 01 degree heat in the Lagerkeller in the space of 2 minutes - brrr. And you won´t survive long down there without warm clothes. Moral of the story...don´t forget your sweater even in this heat!

It gets worse. The guys who process Hops have to go into a special facility where the temp is -20 C. Only then can one harvest the essential compound of the plant.

Lupo, can I come visit this facility until this heatwave ends? Please?

Certainly: Hopsteiner.

A lot of the companies I've worked at in Germany have no A/C but one company had something similar in that cool, fresh ari was pumped around the building which kept the temperature just right. It wasn't A/C but was really nice, not harmfule to the health and economical.

What?!? You dream on hot weather all the winter long and when you finally have it what do you do?!? Switch on air conditioning?! Are you a silly californian?! That kind of organisms living at a constant temperature of 15 dregrees (celsius of course, what else?) while they can enjoy a real summer?

I must admit I am really enjoying this hot weather too...only because I know it will end and I will be freezing before the year is out. Its glorious!!

It's gonna piss it down next week. You wait and see. Bavaria, August, pissing it down. It's a rule of nature.

And then everyone will be complaining!!!

This is simply miserably hot. Not just in Europe, but in the States too where they are having power outages all over. Beer gardens aren't even fun to sit in in this kind of weather. I just saw a report about the rivers in Germany being dangerously low. Bring on the AC and if you are cold, then put clothes on. It is easier to warm up than to cool down.

And just to convince you more:

When the weather is hot and sticky
Thats no time for dunkin dicky
When the frost is on the pumpkin
Thats the time for dicky dunkin

Sorry, i can't agree with this, beer gardens are always good