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Trust me, it’s not dry here right now. It feels more like Panama than Perigord. We’ve been hovering around 38-40 at 80%+ humidity a few days now, and sweating i

Trust me, it’s not dry here right now. It feels more like Panama than Perigord. We’ve been hovering around 38-40 at 80%+ humidity a few days now, and sweating isn’t effective. Thankfully the house has meter thick stone walls, so is as cool as a cave inside - but it’s unbearable outside. These conditions are lethal, for plenty - the very old and the very young tend to suffer the most.

mytailorisrich 7y ago
I grew in the area (Provence) and we didn't have air-con at home and in cars and we managed fine at 35C in summer. The thing is that traditional recipes are being lost. Like you mention, old houses have thick stone walls and shutter on windows: In summer you close the shutters and open the windows to create airflow and it's fresh. These days it's all glass patio doors and you cook... And then people install air con to compensate.
- simias 7y ago
  In general you're right but that only works well in the long term if the temperature drops during the night to be able to keep the inside temperature cool enough for the day. Last summer in Provence when we had the heat wave that lasted for weeks you had to live in a grotto to get a fresh atmosphere.
  - madaxe_again 7y ago
    Yeah - we’ve always used the shutters to regulate the temperature inside - my mother has lived here thirty years. As you say, it’s when it starts to get cumulative that it stops working. The days have been touching 40, the nights 30 - I’ve been doing astronomy in shorts and a t-shirt - feels weird. The upshot is that at night, the walls radiate the day’s heat - normally, this is welcome, as it smooths out the daily temperature cycle (and provides an infrared lamp for cold astronomers) - but right now it’s just slowly getting hotter and hotter on the southern end of the house, as it’s absorbing more than it’s radiating. And yeah, we stumble around in the dark and head out into the anvil of the sun. Even the insects have given up and shut up. Hot in the height of summer is normal here - but this is both early in the year, and those few degrees make a big difference at high humidity - above/below body temperature. I’ve been more comfortable than I am right now in 55 degrees in a desert, as in the bone-dry air, sweating works remarkably well, as long as you stay hydrated.
    - xbmcuser 7y ago
      Are ceiling fans used in Europe or at least where you live. As it could be an opportunity for someone to import and sell ceiling fans in European cities where there is hot humid summer with no breeze suddenly as previously no market for them.
      - Nux 7y ago
        Yes, ceiling fans are plenty popular, from Eastern Europe to England.
      - mytailorisrich 7y ago
        Never saw one...
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  The global climate is demonstrably getting hotter. Not that what you've described isn't more appropriate, but old recipes aren't going to address the bigger challenge of a 5 deg F temp increase or greater. Provence won't be able to grow food.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    As the averages move it's going to become the case that France needs the traditional recipes of Tunisia, Britain of Southern France and so on... The domino effects rapidly get ridiculous.
- nickserv 7y ago
  I curse the previous owners of our house that installed the veranda. It's an old house with thick stone walls and traditional shutters but all that glass is making it unbearable right now in Marseille. Thinking I'm gonna tear it down before next year.
SECProto 7y ago
> We’ve been hovering around 38-40 at 80%+ humidity a few days now Where is this? The place referenced in the article, Villevieille, is currently 43C and 20-40%ish humidity[1]. Googling hasnt brought up anywhere higher. (Obviously temps were higher during the day) When there's high daytime temps and low nighttime temps, my understanding is there isn't high humidity - humidity levels would get above 100% (100% relative humidity, that is) and leave the air as precipitation. [1] https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=current+weather+Villevieille https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=current+weather+Villev... (take your pick of results)
- madaxe_again 7y ago
  Perigord Noir, we’re surrounded by dense and extensive forest here. It isn’t cooling down much at night - 8-10 degree dip. As to the moisture, you’re right, it does go somewhere - dew. I’ve been contending with water dripping off the telescope there’s so much of it - and when the sun comes up, it all evaporates and sits around until the sun sets and it starts condensing again. Edit: today, it isn’t evaporating. 1pm, 34 and rising, but not hot enough to add more moisture to the air yet. Normally, there’d have been a storm to break the cycle. Makes for surprisingly good astronomical seeing, however - very stable atmosphere.
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    That's quite far from the areas mentioned here (Bouches-du-Rhones, Vaucluse, Gard), which are not humid at all in summer. Hot AND humid is really the worst...

mytailorisrich 7y ago

I grew in the area (Provence) and we didn't have air-con at home and in cars and we managed fine at 35C in summer. The thing is that traditional recipes are being lost. Like you mention, old houses have thick stone walls and shutter on windows: In summer you close the shutters and open the windows to create airflow and it's fresh. These days it's all glass patio doors and you cook... And then people install air con to compensate.

simias 7y ago
In general you're right but that only works well in the long term if the temperature drops during the night to be able to keep the inside temperature cool enough for the day. Last summer in Provence when we had the heat wave that lasted for weeks you had to live in a grotto to get a fresh atmosphere.
- madaxe_again 7y ago
  Yeah - we’ve always used the shutters to regulate the temperature inside - my mother has lived here thirty years. As you say, it’s when it starts to get cumulative that it stops working. The days have been touching 40, the nights 30 - I’ve been doing astronomy in shorts and a t-shirt - feels weird. The upshot is that at night, the walls radiate the day’s heat - normally, this is welcome, as it smooths out the daily temperature cycle (and provides an infrared lamp for cold astronomers) - but right now it’s just slowly getting hotter and hotter on the southern end of the house, as it’s absorbing more than it’s radiating. And yeah, we stumble around in the dark and head out into the anvil of the sun. Even the insects have given up and shut up. Hot in the height of summer is normal here - but this is both early in the year, and those few degrees make a big difference at high humidity - above/below body temperature. I’ve been more comfortable than I am right now in 55 degrees in a desert, as in the bone-dry air, sweating works remarkably well, as long as you stay hydrated.
  - xbmcuser 7y ago
    Are ceiling fans used in Europe or at least where you live. As it could be an opportunity for someone to import and sell ceiling fans in European cities where there is hot humid summer with no breeze suddenly as previously no market for them.
    - Nux 7y ago
      Yes, ceiling fans are plenty popular, from Eastern Europe to England.
    - mytailorisrich 7y ago
      Never saw one...
throwaway5752 7y ago
The global climate is demonstrably getting hotter. Not that what you've described isn't more appropriate, but old recipes aren't going to address the bigger challenge of a 5 deg F temp increase or greater. Provence won't be able to grow food.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  As the averages move it's going to become the case that France needs the traditional recipes of Tunisia, Britain of Southern France and so on... The domino effects rapidly get ridiculous.
nickserv 7y ago
I curse the previous owners of our house that installed the veranda. It's an old house with thick stone walls and traditional shutters but all that glass is making it unbearable right now in Marseille. Thinking I'm gonna tear it down before next year.

SECProto 7y ago

> We’ve been hovering around 38-40 at 80%+ humidity a few days now Where is this? The place referenced in the article, Villevieille, is currently 43C and 20-40%ish humidity[1]. Googling hasnt brought up anywhere higher. (Obviously temps were higher during the day) When there's high daytime temps and low nighttime temps, my understanding is there isn't high humidity - humidity levels would get above 100% (100% relative humidity, that is) and leave the air as precipitation. [1] https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=current+weather+Villevieille https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=current+weather+Villev... (take your pick of results)

madaxe_again 7y ago
Perigord Noir, we’re surrounded by dense and extensive forest here. It isn’t cooling down much at night - 8-10 degree dip. As to the moisture, you’re right, it does go somewhere - dew. I’ve been contending with water dripping off the telescope there’s so much of it - and when the sun comes up, it all evaporates and sits around until the sun sets and it starts condensing again. Edit: today, it isn’t evaporating. 1pm, 34 and rising, but not hot enough to add more moisture to the air yet. Normally, there’d have been a storm to break the cycle. Makes for surprisingly good astronomical seeing, however - very stable atmosphere.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  That's quite far from the areas mentioned here (Bouches-du-Rhones, Vaucluse, Gard), which are not humid at all in summer. Hot AND humid is really the worst...