Summer Heat in Europe - The New Normal?

It could be easier if you don't plan trips to Europe more than a month in advance. No one can predict when a heat wave is going to happen but it may be easier to decide based on current trends a month in advance just like COVID-19 outbreaks. I think most who already know they hate heat don't travel in the summer to certain parts like Spain for example, where even a native told me never to go to Andalusia in the summer as a norm, because it is always hot.

I understand why you have to visit in summer. I don't tolerate heat so I just don't travel in June/July/August.

Currently a friend from the forum is on Skye where currently it's showing 65F. Shetland Islands are showing 59. Other family members have just left Norway for Iceland. Bergen is 62F. That's where I would be headed if I had to go, lol!!

So yes...go north. And yes, right now in North Idaho at 730A it's 55F. Time for a walk! It IS supposed to get to 90 later this week. Last year we had hot, hot, hot weather with temps in the 100's so current weather is unusually the old "normal".

London is going to likely break records in the next few days.

I was in London during a heat wave in August 2003 when the highest temperature ever recorded around 98 degrees occurred (since been topped in, I think, 2019, and likely a new record this week, too). Whether what is going on this summer there (and here) is a "new normal" or not, heat waves have occurred in Europe before and will happen again.

We made a last minute trip to Paris in July 2009, and luckily the high temp of the day for the week was a very pleasant 75. Sometimes it works out, but since that trip, we no longer go to Europe from June to August to avoid the crowds and the heat. Our favorite month is December...but October and November are good, too.

We have had weeks of hot weather every year since at least 20+ years in Germany. We had records last year that hadn't been hit since forever? The city of Frankfurt offers weekend breaks to residents to come and stay in hotels with AC at a bargain price, since no one has AC. It is awful. Fans will sell out when these heat waves hit.

I was in France last month when the thermometer hit 41 degrees for 2 days, then the sun didn’t appear much for the next fortnight and it was colder than average.

Today, in southern England in the shade of my patio, it has so far hit 33.2 degrees (it’s 3.38 pm). 35 degrees is the forecast. It’s going to be hot tomorrow then returning to average on Wednesday.

Some parts of Europe have had more prolonged heatwaves. The fire situation in Italy, the U.K., Portugal and other countries has been exacerbated by a lack of rain in the first half of the year as much as the temperatures.

I don’t travel during school holidays - July and August, so I am not proposing to change any future plans.

Let's hope it's not the new normal! In London today and tomorrow, the high will be 100F or a bit over that. Time to head for one of the air conditioned museums if one is in London right now. Or may be time to head to the country or to the forest/mountains and sit in the shade beside a stream or a river. We do not tolerate heat very well, so we travel in the off season, or shoulder season. We find it easier to deal with the cold than the heat.

I think you will see more people getting some form of AC in their homes. I realize with many of the windows that a window unit is not workable, but people will figure something out. As a kid we had just one window refitted for a window unit and it was like I had died and gone to heaven. It was in my parent's bedroom and they put a curtain across the hallway so we got some cool air in our bedrooms, too. It was a relatively inexpensive solution. Grandpa grew up during the Great Depression and lived frugally, but man he did end up loving the AC. It's nice to lay in bed without sweating.

Jennifer, we also don't do Europe (other than Iceland) in July and August, preferring May-early June. We try to avoid travelling during bank holidays and when school is out, for obvious reasons.

Rebecca, the thing about the cold is you can always wear more clothing, whereas in the heat you can only wear so little clothing. I don't know if it's age but I don't do as well in the heat or cold, but I guess the cold is better unless it's raining.

Sadly I feel this is the new normal. In years past climate change related summer heat was annoying yet could be managed with some changes to behaviour.

What I've seen in Spain and elsewhere this summer has turned recent climate change related heat from a simple annoyance to downright deadly, especially for tourists who want to spend all day doing tourist stuff.

I think for me most of Europe (except perhaps the Nordics) are a no go from June-August. My summer holiday this year is south of the equator to Peru where they are currently having their winter.

Morocco in August...I'm sweating just thinking about it.

No offense intended, but, personally, I'd be offering advice to the wedding planners about moving the ceremonies to April. Morocco in August is going to be hellishly hot, for everyone, even for the locals. Is this a "destination wedding" where everyone is expected to fly in from around the world? If so, someone needs an intervention...

How are you all dealing with planning for sustained and/or sporadic
heat waves in Europe? Is it causing you to change your destination
plans, or just how you approach the destination?

Hot summer heat-waves are not completely new. It's just a matter of degree (pardon the expression). It has always been way too hot for me in Southern Europe during July or August, so going to Italy or Spain or Greece (or are you kidding me, Morocco?!) in the summer has always been insane, at least to me. Yes, the heat waves do seem to have gotten worse - more intense, and more widespread. It probably is the new normal. It's just got a bigger, wider, more intense footprint now. I'm sure Norway or Estonia are lovely right now. Personally, my plans have not really changed...I make my travel plans with avoidance of bad weather (and crowds) as the primary criteria.

I still clearly remember walking around Rome with my 6-year-old daughter on my shoulders, drenched in sweat. This would be around 1990. At one point I poured water over my head as if I was riding in the Tour de France. Speaking of which those guys have really been suffering recently. They ride into the Pyrenees is Tuesday.

@David: It's my sister-in-law's wedding celebration in Morocco; most of the groom's family is there and won't be able to come to the American wedding. We told her we would come whenever, but of course it's easiest to go when the kids are out of school. Throw in others' scheduling needs (college-aged siblings/cousins) and their own schedules (they are both residents) and we're left with - August in Morocco.

Basically, the heat wave is not causing me to change my destination plans for a summer trip.

So very true that the heat in the summer can be oppressive , a real broiler, such as 90F in Vienna. Of all the cities where I have had to put up with heat at 90F in the summer, Paris, Vienna, London, Berlin, I would say Vienna was by far the worst, while Berlin was the most tolerable.

Putting up with 90F in Sacramento, CA is much easier than 90F in Paris, much less Vienna.

Worse than Vienna or anywhere else I've been to in the summer, in terms of "shock" regarding the heat was what I encountered in Toulon in 1999, that combination of water, (first time seeing the Mediterranean ), heat, sun, latitude, was a stunning mental surprise for me in July , likewise on the second visit there two years later also in July. Then I was more prepared mentally .

I think this will be pretty normal but I work in a school so summer is when I can travel. We always do June though, I won't travel to Europe in July and especially August. Of course Budapest this past June was 100 while we were there, but all the rest of the BOEE tour was fine. My sister and I had our last 3 nights in London before coming home and the high's were 70. Felt like heaven.

With that being said we are signed up for the Sicily tour in June 2023 and fully expect it to be hot. We will adjust accordingly.

While I do believe in climate change, let’s not let one heat wave make us believe that it’s doomed to be like this forever. There was also a massive heat wave in 1910.

Dale is not just one heat wave, but it's one after another and they're getting longer too and more deadly, there's one more coming up soon that's forecast to last 20 days.

Yes, those memories of being drenched in sweat with the child along. Exactly the same experience in Paris in early July 2005 with the grandson a month away from his fifth birthday and on his first overseas trip, this time only to France. He only had two weeks. When we saw the other little kids playing around amidst the water fountains, he joined them while we sat on the benches under that blazing sun watching him....good memories. I am sure it was more than 30C

I am sure it was more than 30C

@ Fred - 30c is "cold" compared to what's currently going on in Europe lol! I think parts of Portugal/Spain topped 46c today 😧

While I do believe in climate change, let’s not let one heat wave make us believe that it’s doomed to be like this forever. There was also a massive heat wave in 1910.

• 2021 was the sixth-warmest year on record based on NOAA’s temperature data.
• The nine years from 2013 through 2021 rank among the 10 warmest years on record.
• Earth’s temperature has risen by 0.14° Fahrenheit (0.08° Celsius) per decade since 1880, but the rate of warming since 1981 is more than twice that: 0.32° F (0.18° C) per decade. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature

@ Carlos....True that I've never experienced 40C or even 100F in Europe, only in CA and Texas. In the early 1970s trips on some of the German trains I saw the thermometer stand at 36C with no A/C obviously, only all the windows were open to the max. The situation now in Spain and Portugal, even in France, as I've been following the daily news on this , is much more acute as the death rate reveals.

A month ago, it hit 103’ in Paris. Last week it was 117’ in Portugal; today it was 100’ in London.
The alarming quality to this is not that we’ve never before seen hot days in Europe- it’s the unprecedented records being broken in cities not known for having blast furnace temperatures, and the frequency with which they are happening.

Not everywhere in Europe is hot. I'm in Warsaw, it's early morning, 16 degrees Celsius (60F) and I'm wearing a cardigan. The temperature is supposed to rise to 28C (80F) later today but the long term forecast looks like the normal Polish summer I remember from my childhood 30 years ago - a good mix of everything - sun, clouds, heat waves, cold nights and rain. In fact there seems to be quite a lot of rain this summer as my parents, avid gardeners, now complain about vegetables rotting from too much moisture. Winters have defintitely become milder over the years but summers seem to be more or less the same. I still do not feel any need to install air conditioning in my apartment.

No hot-weather complaints in the parts of Norway and Sweden I've visited since June 15, either. There have been a few days that hit 26C or 28C (79F / 82.5F), which may be warmer than usual, but I don't think many travelers would have a big issue with a few days like that.

Speaking of which:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/18/climate/europe-heat-wave-science.html

Miserably hot in Southern Italy, Spain, Provence in summer? That's not the "new normal, that's the "normal normal".

To beat the heat, either go north or to a beach. Better yet, if you can, travel shoulder season to escape the hottest months.