Much of France was set to experience temperatures of around 40C on Tuesday, after records were shattered on Monday
Forty people have drowned in France over the past days as they sought to cool down to escape record heat, the prime minister said on Tuesday, as a heatwave swept across much of Europe.
Speaking ahead of an emergency meeting on the heatwave, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said: “A sad scourge when it comes to drownings, as the latest figures just reported to us show 40 deaths since June 18, most of them young people.”
Across France, people have been jumping into canals and rivers to cool off. French sports minister Marina Ferrari said she understood the urge to escape the heat but warned against swimming in unauthorized or dangerous areas.
48 dead from swimming. How does france suck at swimming so bad?
I remember an early heatwave in russia they had a bunch of deaths from drunk people going in the (still very cold) water and it stopping their hearts.
I can’t imagine that is what is going on in france here in late june though.
People in France commonly die of shock cooling and riptides. That’s beyond your imagination though.
I remember the old sunoco’s.
Anyone read The Ministry For The Future? There’s a horrifying wet-bulb event that occurs in the book. It happens in India. People just dying by the hundreds, stewing in any water they can find to cool off. It’s looking very likely to occur this century. In the book, this causes some changes, some of which are implemented very aggressively. Sad to think it may be the only way people get on board with fixing this stuff.
okay, that sounds like a very low and very high number of drownings at the same time. quick and dirty analysis. 40 deaths due to one cause in one day is alarming even when your metropolitan population is 66 million. Normally there are 1,000 drowning deaths per year. Ish. That’s 1/25th the budgeted drownings for the country in a single [time period oopsie misread the article. maybe 5 days? point still stands]. Like, 40 is a small absolute number but per capita per [short time period] it’s a LOT.
hence the government emergency meeting.
40C is 104F, which on its own doesn’t feel that hot to me. It must be humid too I’m guessing.
Lol, 40°C is insanely hot for humans. Everything over 30 is super hot, over 35 is dangerous.
Add humidity to that and expect people to die from the heat alone.
Above 100F is where it’s considered critical, where the body can no longer dissipate heat through the environment.
Won’t this be related to the humidity/wet bulb temp?
Humidity makes it even worse.
43C is 109F, which is what the headline says.
Ah was reading the body of the post, which says “around 40C.” 109 sucks but it’s still bearable if it’s not humid. Humidity with that temp is what makes it a killer.
What you’re saying is true, but only under specific circumstances. If you’re conditioned for it and you take precautions, if this is your daily, it’s doable. 109 with very low humidity, a nice breeze, in the shade, with dessert clothing, and a healthy supply of clean water, is ez if you are used to it and know what to do.
If you aren’t used to it, or don’t know what to do, or it’s 40% humidity, or there is no shade and you’re letting the sun hit your skin, etc, will easily kill you. This is France my man. Not wherever you’re from. These temps, just hitting the normal vegetation will ensure the humidity is unbearable. Much less everything else.
Oh… 40% is where it starts getting dangerous already? I assumed that’s low humidity.
humidity in france is normally between 65% and 95%
Tbh with you I think it’s lower than that when the temps are over 100, much less over 110. However, I don’t know the exact number. I think it depends on other factors. In a situation where we’re talking about regular folks having to do several specific things to survive, humidity easily breaks our little scenario.
I can tell you that I’m from the swamp. I can do up to around 103 with humidity over 70% but the cone for survival begins to narrow dramatically above 95. In the desert with humidity at 14%, I was completely fine at 110 even in the sun for periods of time. Like, I thought it was in the high 80s.
But, I can sweat gallons as long as I have water. That’s what my body is conditioned to do. In the actual, ancient desert, without constant access to water, I’m dead. I assume most people can’t just sweat two gallons a day, drink two gallons and eat some spicy food, and be ok tomorrow again. I also assume actual desert natives handle 110 different than me too, in a more desert sustainable way.
If we’re talking about bare survival of a healthy or generationally conditioned person, able to do the right things, with access to everything they need, I think you’re right 40% doesn’t break things, but I assume none of those things apply in France.
Europe is humid, it’s not a desert yet. It’s not like Arizona with dry heat or whatever you are imagining.
It’s relative, Europe live in buildings meant to keep the heat in made of brick or concrete where as where you live probably has bungalows made of timber suited to the climate in your area
Brick really retains heat I hear. I don’t doubt concrete and stone can as well.
The AC situation in Europe is a little rough. I stayed in Paris in a niceish hotel and the AC could not keep up with the heat when I was there. It was maybe a 10 degree difference inside vs out, and the humidity did not drop much. This was 10 years ago so maybe more places have better ac now, but I don’t think every place had AC then.
A 10 degree difference might not feel cold and comfy but it is absolutely life saving.
Depends on the country and the region within. The further you move south, the more ACs you’ll see. Up until recently, there wasn’t a reason for countries north of italy to have AC everywhere.
Ya we had to do that here in Maine about 10 years ago.
