#ClimateDiary Thinking about the word #Heatwave. Is it helpful? Yes, of course, it captures that it is unusually hot. And when people talk about this year’s heatwave many do bring in climate change. But the word itself makes jt sound like something natural that just happens, like a wave, just washes over us. Not sure it’s that helpful.
Ciara reshared this.
Vicomte Folmer af Helvede
in reply to Pauline von Hellermann • • •Heattsunami? Not really much better I guess.
The whole nautical/water aspect is perhaps not so useful...
In Denmark, the definition is apparently 3 consecutive days with temperature above 28 °C
This seems to not be consistent throughout Europe though.
da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedeb%C3…
So, even when discussing if the word heatwave is appropriate, we don't even seem to have a firm consensus of what heatwave means, leaving room for a shifting definition across decades.
Difficult!
Hedebølge - Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi
Bidragsydere til Wikimedia-projekter (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Ciara reshared this.
MarjorieR
in reply to Vicomte Folmer af Helvede • • •and although the Wikipedia article cited divides the UK between North and South its not that simple: there are actually 4 zones (25C, 26C, 27C and 28C) and here in the far South West we are in the zone with the lowest heatwave threshold. - it's really South East vs. the rest. Apparently Londoners are used to being baked.
weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn…
drs1969 (David Smith) 🇬🇧
in reply to MarjorieR • • •Ciara reshared this.
dana is calling bullshit on that
in reply to drs1969 (David Smith) 🇬🇧 • • •I kinda like that term. #HeatStorm
Ciara
in reply to dana is calling bullshit on that • • •@d_a_n_a @drs1969 @marjolica @folfdk Agreed that we need a more appropriate word than 'heatwave'. I think 'heatstorm' is a great suggestion that I already want to start using.
PS: when I typed 'heatstorm', autocorrect changed it to 'heatstroke', which seems like an appropriate word-neighbour.
Vicomte Folmer af Helvede
in reply to MarjorieR • • •@marjolica
That's interesting, thanks!
I clicked through to the 2022 threshold update, with a very nice and detailed description of the updates regarding which temperature is used in the counties.
So even the heatwave definition is being changed, so historical records will sound worse than they are, if one doesn't take that into account.
Especially the attached graphic from that article (metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news…) is really quite informative.
Cc
@pvonhellermannn
MarjorieR
in reply to Vicomte Folmer af Helvede • • •I don't know if this is factored into the UK Met Office classifications, I think they are just using a simply a deviation from historical "norms" not the degree to which the temperature affects human bodies.
Vicomte Folmer af Helvede
in reply to MarjorieR • • •@marjolica
That's a good point!
And I agree with your conclusion about the classification.
Cc
@pvonhellermannn
Ciara
Unknown parent • • •@nolitimere
"if a hurricane has an obviously female name, people are inclined to take fewer precautions than for one with a male name"
Incredible. Not surprising, but still incredible.
reshared this
Patrick Hadfield and Yellow Turtle 🍉 reshared this.
Kate Bowles
in reply to Pauline von Hellermann • • •I think you’re right, “wave” encourages “it’ll pass” thinking. Heat emergency is clearer.
In Australia the languaging of bushfire conditions was changed in 2022 to be much more blunt, up to “catastrophic”.
Angela Miller
in reply to Ciara • • •Both of the worst storms we have had recently had female *Tolkien character * names.
But we don't get hurricanes here.. yet
Fredrik Graver
in reply to Ciara • • •@CiaraNi @nolitimere Good grief.
I was going to reply with a* dark and cynical comment about the deserved fate of those who would act so stupidly, but in polite company perhaps I’d better not.
* Perhaps more than one; there are so many.
Ciara
in reply to Angela Miller • • •Angela Miller
in reply to Ciara • • •Was Met Eireann that named them both, Arwen and Eowyn.
Ciara
in reply to Angela Miller • • •@Alternatecelt Ah! I thought Eowyn was typically a male name. Just between you, me and the Internet, I thought it was a Welsh version of Eoghan or Owen. I probably shouldn't have admitted that out loud.
@nolitimere @pvonhellermannn
Ciara
Unknown parent • • •@Alternatecelt @beecycling Now I'm thinking it's subliminal messaging from the despairing meteorologists, trying to make us realise that the climate is collapsing on us.
@nolitimere @pvonhellermannn
john lomax
in reply to Pauline von Hellermann • •After a discussion last week about naming storms, I wrote to the UK Met Office suggesting that we start naming heatwaves, similar to the way we name storms.
I got this reply
Thank you for your email and for sharing your suggestion.
We appreciate your idea of assigning names to significant heat events in a similar way to our named storm system. The Met Office currently names storms as part of a joint initiative with Met Éireann and KNMI to help communicate the potential impacts of high-impact weather. Heatwaves are communicated through forecasts, weather warnings where appropriate, and Heat-Health Alerts issued by the UK Health Security Agency and Met Office.
We value public feedback on how weather information is communicated and have passed your suggestion to the relevant team for consideration.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards,
Service Desk
#NamedStorms #NamedHeatwaves #UKMetOffice #MetÉireann #KNMI
like this
Pauline von Hellermann, EventOrg, e-Flex, RFanciola, Srokshin and Radical Anthropology like this.
reshared this
Pauline von Hellermann and EventOrg reshared this.