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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Binastro" data-source="post: 3236848" data-attributes="member: 111403">. Hi perterra,. When I was in my 30s I had no trouble running around quite fast in temperatures of 108°F when on holiday.Now I suffer here when it is in the 90s.I hope that I can quote from two paragraphs from the 2002 edition of the Rough Guide to Weather.'A sustained heatwave can cause a spike of up to 100% in death rates, especially when the average temperature spends more than a couple of days above a threshold value that seems to vary from place to place. The threshold effect is muted in regions such as the US South, where people are accustomed to serious heat, and their homes and offices - even when modest - are typically well ventilated. The mortality spikes the sharpest in northern cities, where heat absorbing buildings are packed closely together and home air conditioning is less common. Over 500 Chicagoans died in a 1995 heatwave, many of them elderly who kept windows closed, to foil crime, and air conditioners (if they had any) off, to save money.Heatwaves are one of the biggest threats in scenarios of future global warming. Dangerous bouts of heat may spread poleward to places that have been spared up to now. One study showed that heat related deaths could rise more than sevenfold globally by the year 2050 if temperatures climb as computer models predict they will'.I was surprised to note that every state in the mainland USA has maximum temperatures in excess of 100°F, which is the maximum recorded in the United Kingdom, or actually 100.5°F here.Hawaii reached 100°F, so is equal to the United Kingdom.We in the United Kingdom have a rather easy time of it, regarding weather. It neither gets excessively cold nor excessively hot, although we do have a lot of weather because we are an island or islands.I agree that's when money comes into the equation, it is very difficult to avoid questions of pollution and global warming. I think that I read that if everybody on our planet had a standard of living equal to those of some Western countries, we would need 10 planets to provide the resources.I am also personally guilty of excess consumption and use of resources, as are most of us in the West.As to the year 2050, that won't be of concern to me, but I wonder how our children and grandchildren are going to cope.I think that binoculars can cope with excessive heat a lot better than the users.</blockquote>

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