Europe June 2026 Heat Wave: Worst Ever?

Tony Crocker said:
Humidity around here in summer is usually 45-50%. I have not seen swamp coolers here aside from an auto mechanic garage. They work in very low humidity. Scotty's Castle in Death Valley had one but it was built 100+ years ago before A/C was used much. My cousin in Phoenix says they work during dry heat season up to mid-July but that they are not effective in later monsoon season.

But James may be right. My observation is that 93F/34C is the highest temperature I find comfortable in shade when humidity is very low. And I was in Phoenix in September when I made that observation. I don't Phoenix humidity goes up unless there is active weather.

I still don't understand split system, because Jason references it vs. ducted system which serves an entire house or al least one floor of a house. . Is split system just a different one room setup vs. the typical window unit? Window units are in windows so the exchanged hot air is vented to the outside. If you are only cooling one room, surely a split system is more expensive and if so how much more efficient is it to pay back that difference?
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Splits are much more efficient than window units I believe. They use a lot less juice.
 
I made a one hour drive on 4 July 2026 for an indoor party with friends and family. I went from the Washington DC suburbs to the Baltimore suburbs and back. On the return trip around 4pm I looked at my car thermometer and it read 103f. I looked at it again a few minutes later and it read 105f. The official high yesterday in Washington DC was an all time record for the date of July 4th, 102f. Maybe my car was a little off? Maybe being on an asphalt highway skewed things? I'm used to heat and humidity and tolerate it pretty well, but it definitely felt like a special kind of hot yesterday in the mid-Atlantic!
 
jimk said:
Maybe being on an asphalt highway skewed things?
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This ^^. IMO, car thermometers are accurate other than during heatwaves.

jimk said:
I'm used to heat and humidity and tolerate it pretty well, but it definitely felt like a special kind of hot yesterday in the mid-Atlantic!
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We hit 101F in the shade on Friday (our humidity was low other than yesterday) and now we're looking at the following. Never a dull moment!
  • Today New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
  • Tonight New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
  • Monday New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
  • Monday Night New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
 
jimk said:
I made a one hour drive on 4 July 2026 for an indoor party with friends and family. I went from the Washington DC suburbs to the Baltimore suburbs and back. On the return trip around 4pm I looked at my car thermometer and it read 103f. I looked at it again a few minutes later and it read 105f. The official high yesterday in Washington DC was an all time record for the date of July 4th, 102f. Maybe my car was a little off? Maybe being on an asphalt highway skewed things? I'm used to heat and humidity and tolerate it pretty well, but it definitely felt like a special kind of hot yesterday in the mid-Atlantic!
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I find the vehicle thermometer readings are high. Sometimes by 3 degrees C. I blame the metal composition of the car.
 
Cars take about 15-30 minutes to provide a semi-accurate, non-asphalt temperature reading.
 
Car thermometers work well when you're driving continuously (not stop and go) so the thermometer is ventilated. I think jimk's observation yesterday is within the margin of error.
 
www.theguardian.com

Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify

Temperatures across ravaged region 3C above average as scientists warn of risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructure
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

1783587988313.png
 
That graph is for Europe. The worldwide anomaly for June was 1.39C. This fits with a recent article (I can't find today) about the heat wave saying Europe is warming at twice the rate of the world overall. That might imply the rain/snow line in Europe rising by 1,000 feet vs. 500 feet in the past 50 years. I say might because overall warming especially in continental locations is more in summer than in winter.
 
jasoncapecod said:
We put the second system in to supplement the central air.
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jasoncapecod said:
Its almost silent and doesn't block a window.
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I'm late to this thread, but was wondering why you would have 2 systems like that.

Part of the silence comes from variable speed motors on the outdoor unit instead of off/on like window or traditional AC models. Those motors are also one reason they are so much more efficient too. Top mini-splits today can have 8 to 1 efficiency ratio of electrical input to cooling output. And in reverse over to 4 to 1 input to output ratios for heating.

Especially with a teenager, our central AC runs constantly all summer long.
 
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