... and I don't need an expert to tell me that.
Today, as there will be 38° C (100° F) the highest temperature, much like the entire week, nobody can tell me this isn't real.
My sister and her family just got back from their summer vacation, and they have issues adjusting to the weather at home, which is the same as it was when they left, but about 5 degrees or more higher temperatures on average than at their vacation spot, which is further south by the way, and theoretically it should be hotter.
I tried to think of extreme weather from my childhood. I couldn't think of many, and when they were, they were... different than today. For example, I remember an episode with hail and rain that caught us at our grandparents when we were kids. Being a little boy, the house old and the grown-ups being very upset because it destroyed the crops, it probably stuck in my mind to some degree. But hail is not something unusual in our part of the world in the summer. What is different nowadays is that due to extreme temperatures very rarely does a weather change comes without strong storms.
Otherwise, I do remember playing around all day in the hot sun without any protection, which I doubt children do these days at these temperatures (and are ok), we certainly didn't have any AC and I don't think we had a fan either, but I'm not sure. So it was manageable.
What was also different was the winters. It's been a while since we had more than a few snowflakes and a snow bed that lasts more than a few hours. Back then, winters with 30-50 cm of snow were... regular, and those without snow were highly unlikely.
The first episode of extreme weather I can vividly remember even after some 20 years, was at our old flat, when the wind (possibly a small tornado, although at that time nobody talked about tornadoes in our country, but later they started to), took off the rooftop off the block we lived in like it was a piece of paper. I watched as it did in dismay, and it was close to send one of the roebucks through our window, as I was watching. Everything lasted a few minutes at most (for us) without any warning, except the sky getting really dark right before that.
The last few years in the house we own has been eventful due to the weather every summer. The house is only 20 years old, and is solid like many in the neighborhood.
Yet, until last year, every year for a few years, summer storms either moved or took off a few tiles off the house and/or fences. That happened to pretty much all my neighbors too. A few are spared due to their less exposed positions compared to the usual pathway of these storms. Anything you leave unsecured in the yard and the wind can lift off gets destroyed and becomes a projectile. Learned the hard way a few times. The problem is you can't be always there to make sure everything is secured before hell breaks loose.
Since last year we made extensive (and costly) improvements, and no tiles have been shaken this summer. But we didn't get off so easily. We have a polycarbonate rooftop over an area where we kept the car, like an open garage.
Well, this summer we had a strong storm with hail. And we need a new polycarbonate rooftop (apparently hard to find these days). We also had a few broken lamps which we already replaced. We are lucky! Others in town I heard were left without any windows after that storm, and other significant damages.
So yeah, the climate is changing before our eyes. Others may look forward to summer and vacation time approaching. I simply hate it and can't wait for it to be over already. Only to start over next year...
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