Beneath the burning skies

[dolorosa_12]

Like much of southeastern England, we've been experiencing a heatwave for the entire week, and a drought for the entire summer — apart from a brief shower of about ten minutes, two weeks ago (which immediately evaporated), it hasn't rained here since May, and the grass is dead and dry. I find it genuinely terrifying, particularly since there appears to be little official action to mitigate the effects. In Australia, I would expect to see routine water restrictions, and a total fire ban, but of course there has been nothing of the sort. (I double checked just now and saw nothing but the big local water compnanies putting out press releases saying they would not impose water restrictions and a government announcement basically saying it was water companies' responsibility to impose such things. I find the latter completely irrational and horrifying — this is surely the responsibility of governments rather than private industry!)

And of course, with no bans in place, I've seen people merrily using sprinklers to water their gardens, hosing down hard surfaces or washing cars with a hose. There still also seems to be a dangerous emphasis in some parts of the press of treating all this as just some lovely warm summer weather, with photos of people swimming at the beach or basking in the sun at picnics. Meanwhile, I feel as if there should be an official campaign teaching people how to protect their houses and gardens against bushfires — all I see when I look at those expanses of dry grass is a handy collection of tinder and kindling. I feel anxious every time I smell smoke, and have to figure out whether someone is having a barbecue, or whether it's something more sinister.

This weekend, I've done my best to avoid the heat and move as little as possible. I had to go to the market, but I managed to be back at home by 9am, and other than that I just made morning trips to the bakery down the road to get an iced coffee. I've spent the rest of the time at home, strategically opening and closing windows and curtains depending on the position of the sun, doing very slow, gentle yoga, reading undemanding books, and watching undemanding TV (of which more in later posts). If I'd planned things better I would have avoided cooking altogether, but I'm not the biggest fan of cold food like salad, so cooking had to happen.

I just wish it would rain. Proper, stormy, deluging rain, for hours and days at a time. It doesn't often rain here in the summer, but two months and counting without rain is unnerving and oppressive. The heat goes on.

Comments

[spikedluv]

We're having a drought were I am in upstate NY, too, but yours sound much worse. It's horrible that the government isn't showing any concern over it.

Please continue to say cool and safe.

[dolorosa_12]

To be fair, the government here isn't showing much concern about anything besides their ridiculous leadership vote, so not caring about the drought is par for the course. I'm sorry you're also going through a drought — it's so unpleasant and scary.

Please continue to say cool and safe.

You too!

[lilysea]

:(

I saw that France is doing water restrictions, but is allowing water use exemptions for golf courses - climate activists are pouring concrete into the golf course holes in protest.

"Climate activists in the south of France have damaged lawns and filled golf course holes with cement, protesting against golf courses' exemption from water bans as the country faces its most severe drought in history."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/french-climate-activists-fill-golf-course-holes-cement-drought/101331456

[dolorosa_12]

I saw that about the French activists and the golf course — well done to them!

Of course, this morning I saw a guy striding through the streets with full golf kit, so presumably golf courses here are also being well watered. Sigh.

[senmut]

Oh I hope yours breaks soon!

We just saw the news about the Thames headwaters having slid, because the original springs dried up?

[dolorosa_12]

It finally broke with lots of rain last night, although who knows if this is going to continue.

The whole situation is really scary.

[charlottenewtons]

Yeah the area around where I live seems to be perpetually on fire (one place has been burning on and off for about a month now) and the only thing suggested is to try and get supermarkets to stop selling disposable BBQs.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh no, that's so terrifying and disappointing! I hope you stay safe.

[corvidology]

The whole time I was home my dad, a championship winning gardner, kept turning his face to the sky and muttering swear words under his breath.

I've never seen anything like it. We were there for three weeks and in all that time there were two maybe five minute long sprinkles of rain.

[dolorosa_12]

It's just utterly terrifying, isn't it? Your poor dad — it's really not a good year for gardening.

[nerakrose]

urgh this heatwave! I promised my landlady I'd look after her garden while she was away (she waters it twice a day, liberally) and a few days after she left I read somewhere that all the London water providers had issued a hose pipe ban so I stopped, instead using only waste water to water those plants that looked most thirsty that day (and tbh it was fine, the garden was surviving) - and then ended up having an argument with her about it when I told her (she called to check in). she insisted no hose pipe ban had been issued etc etc and I was like.... ok then... I'll water your garden like you want...

on one hand I'm moving in less than a week so I could just let her garden wither and not give a fuck but on the other hand, I also want my deposit back. (I'm pretty sure not watering the garden is not grounds to withhold it from me but I also don't want to have to fight to get it back, so.) I just. seriously lady. this massive drought and you don't even independently think that maybe watering your flowers shouldn't be a priority??

[dolorosa_12]

Wow, those are some messed up priorities! I have been watering our vegetables, but only with a watering can, not with a hose or sprinkler — and I've been leaving everything that's not a garden to wither, because, as you say, it's really not a priority. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this from your landlady.

[kore]

We had another heat wave here in Seattle, much less intense but it's basically been spread out over the entire month. I keep thinking these droughts and "temporary heat waves" are glimpses into the not-so-far future when they're not going to be that temporary.

[dolorosa_12]

That's my fear exactly. Part of my reasoning from moving to the UK was to avoid more exteme climate-change-related weather than I would get in Australia, but to be honest, nowhere is going to be safe, is it? I'm so sorry you're going through something similar in Seattle.

[chestnut_pod]

Much solidarity and support from me in my own drought. It truly is infuriating, the ways governments toss responsibility around like a hot potato. It must be particularly bad and scary in the UK, where no one is used to the heat and dryness, and no infrastructure is prepared for it -- no breezy architecture or emergency catchments.

I'm not sure if sociology might be as comforting to you as it is to me, but sometimes I find a little "why" helps. You might be interested in this recent dissertation about how governments decide when it's a drought (and therefore when to start doing anything -- or if to start): https://escholarship.org/uc/item/37p1v27w. It's CA-specific, but there are lots of generalizable observations in there, I think.

ETA: blah, I just noticed that diss is still under embargo for public-access readers, which makes it the opposite of helpful! I am sorry. Instead, I will just send you wishes for rain and sun safety.

[dolorosa_12]

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through another drought in California there, because the fires in that part of the world are truly terrifying. And yes, the UK is completely unprepared for this, and we're stuck with a government that is really bad at forward planning.

If the link had been to a journal article I might have been able to get it through my own institutional login, but that won't work for dissertations from other organisations, obviously. Thanks for trying!

[peaked]

I always assume every country behaves the same, so I always forget that other countries behave so differently from Australia when it comes to bushfires. I would fully expect water restrictions and a fire ban, too!

I wish I could send some of the cold to you (and get some of that heat here). Stay as cool as you can and I hope the heat breaks soon.

[dolorosa_12]

The problem in the UK is both a lack of preparedness for this kind of weather, and a government which is particularly bad at forward planning. The combination of these things results in the current situation.

It did rain at last for most of last night and the morning. I hope to see much more of that! Hopefully things warm up for you soon too.

[rekishi]

Yes, this drought is pretty concerning here on the continent as well.

We've had water restrictions put in place regionally by communities where it's the worst, but not nationally and I also don't think it will happen nationally in Germany. For various reasons.

The reason why governments are not doing it are manyfold, but to be fair, most countries in continental Europe (and certainly not the UK because of weather patterns) are overly familiar with bush fires. We will get that overly familiar in just a few years' time, but we're not actually there yet. 2022 is a record year for bush fires, so there's that.

Stormy deluges are not actually a good idea right now for neither the continent nor the UK. The problem is currently that the soil is so dry that it's unable to take on water especially when it comes as a deluge. The result would be that most fields would have the most fertile topsoil (if which a limited amount exists in the world right now due to how erosion works) would be washed away with any deluge, actually causing problems for years to come.

What we all need is a few days of gentle rain. Which is not what we'll get anytime soon, so the problem will continue.

[dolorosa_12]

Indeed — the news I've been seeing from Germany, France, Spain and Italy in particular is terrifying.

Thank you for the explanation about the problem with droughts followed by deluges — I think I had at some point known about the issues with washing away topsoil, but had forgotten. It did rain gently last night and this morning (probably for about eight hours in total), which is obviously helpful, but we definitely need more of that.

I hope things improve soon in Germany as well.

[rekishi]

We had some 2.3 mm up here where I am, much more in the south (but then too much of it due to the Genua zyclone).

It's a mess we'll have to work with going forward. There was a warning going around a few weeks ago, how this might be the coldest summer we'll see for generations. Which is not happymaking at all. :/

[merit]

I guess it is yet another new reality they're unaccustomed to and refuse to change to.

Though, yes, I have been looking over at English weather and that would be warm for summer here. Hopefully gentle rains come your way soon.

[dolorosa_12]

I guess it is yet another new reality they're unaccustomed to and refuse to change to.

You are not wrong.

We actually had several days over 40 degrees, which was terrifying. I don't think I ever experienced that in Australia. That being said, I had some advantages when living in Australia: the place where I last lived (my mum's current flat) is on the sixth floor of a block of flats, with windows that get almost constant southerly breezes from Sydney Harbour. So it's always very cool and airy inside, never humid, and generally quite pleasant. The other thing is that I left Australia in my early twenties — meaning that the entire time I lived there, I was either a school student (who had nothing strenuous to do during the hottest time of the year) or I was a uni student who worked in weekend/holiday shop jobs in bakeries which closed on Christmas Eve and reopened after Australia Day, meaning again I had nothing to do during those very hot times of the year. Obviously in the UK I'm a fulltime employee and have to work much of the summer.

Thankfully, it rained last night and this morning, and everything has cooled down a lot.

[lirazel]

We've had all your rainfall here and suffered floods because of it. Climate change is terrifying.

Do you think the lack of government action is because of lack of government experience with drought (Australia has more extreme weather more often, I'm assuming, so it probably has some procedures in place?) or general Conservative failures?

I've spent the rest of the time at home, strategically opening and closing windows and curtains depending on the position of the sun, doing very slow, gentle yoga, reading undemanding books, and watching undemanding TV

This sounds lovely!

I'm hoping for some rain for y'all very very soon!

[dolorosa_12]

I saw those floods — absolutely terrifying! Climate change is so destructive.

Do you think the lack of government action is because of lack of government experience with drought (Australia has more extreme weather more often, I'm assuming, so it probably has some procedures in place?) or general Conservative failures?

I think a mixture of both. The government here certainly isn't good at forward planning, and the fact that they've spent the past three months having a leadership election hasn't helped.

Your hopes clearly paid off: it rained last night!

[lirazel]

I heard that some parts of the UK got a lot of flooding a few days ago? It sounds like that wasn't y'all--I'm glad!

[blackcatofmisery]

I remember being in Pennsylvania during the summer one year, when it was under drought. Still saw plenty of people watering lawns, primarily in affluent neighborhoods. I've never liked the media portrayal of the heat as something wonderfully summer; it's hotter sooner than it used to be, and that is a problem. Climate change. Global warming. They're bigger issues than someone's misguided need for a green lawn every day of the year.

There was a recent article warning about a pending megaflood in California soon. They're so dry they're on fire, and the megafloods are rare but not unheard of, so the public has largely forgotten them. It really seems lately that if it's not one thing, it's another and with little time between events.

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

Climate change. Global warming. They're bigger issues than someone's misguided need for a green lawn every day of the year.

Exactly this, and to be honest people really need to stop having lawns — they're ecologically terrifying. It would be better to have gardens full of vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, and flowering plants and weeds, with a few paths made from mulch/woodchips, and no lawn at all.

[blackcatofmisery]

I agree. A lawn is fine when you've got a dog that needs room to roam (because it really is a pain trying to teach them where is okay to walk and do their business), or if you have children. But like those postage stamp city lots with grassy lawns? Pointless. The massive golf course lawns in rural areas? Even more pointless. Desert areas with green lawns?! It is not natural, and there is a problem with making an area into something it's not. Sure, it brings business and jobs to the area, but it hurts the local environment. Then businesses spend so much on landscaping, and it's solely for looks. They don't use the lawn space. (With businesses, though, they do have to be mindful of potential hazards. If someone gets hurt on their property, they can be sued, but that may depend on state or region.) But ultimately you have a great point.

[trepkos]

This weather is utterly unbearable. We had a bit or rain today, though, so hope is on the horizon, though only in the short term.

[dolorosa_12]

Unbearable is right. Thankfully it rained here last night, and I'm glad to hear you got some rain too.

[svgurl]

Ugh, heatwave. That really sucks. I'm in the US/California and we haven't had proper, consistent rain in the winter in a few years so I think summer fires is just something I kinda of expect/dread. Even we haven't gotten actual water restrictions so maybe it takes more than one summer for it to be necessary?

In the meantime, I hope you're able to stay cool and the temps drop soon!

[dolorosa_12]

California sounds really scary, and I know you've had some awful fires over the years. I'm used to it from Australia, but the thought of them happening in the UK is really terrifying.

It rained here last night and cooled things down — I hope you get the same thing soon!