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I would say less than 5% of houses or buildings in my town have A/C, but anyway, I live at 1,230 meters asl.
For warmer places located at lower altitudes, like Madrid which is at 600 meters asl, about 40% of buildings and houses have A/C.
Anyway, I dislike it so much.
Here only high elevated places don 't need an A/C at summer. And maybe some places in the Aegean See don 't need an A/C because they have cool north winds at summers with tolerable warm temperatures even in heat waves so the winds give a relief to the heat. I remember I was on vacation in a beach near Kavala city which is about 50 Km from Serres summer was perfect. It was windy at the noon and warm. We sit under a trre reading a book and it was great. At night it was again windy and refreshing! This kind of summer is perfect!!!
Those look brutal, seems like stuck high pressure on the coast of North Africa are the usual cause. What dew points did the 1987 heat wave get? Looks like southern Italy must have gotten rather hot, too.
Yes that is the cause. I don 't know the dew points. :/ Guys from UK yes if you in NW and West Europe have cooler and wetter period than normal we here have the opposite weather! Summer of 1976 was really wet here and colder than normal. It was the coldest summer in my country 's history. Also I remember periods of the summer 2006 that were really gloomy and windy with frequent rainfalls. I was on vacation at Halkidiki and I woke up ane day and it was really cold for summer! Below 20 C, cloudy and I put a jumper! Also the same happens in winter! When you have the influence of the Greenland block so you have cold and snowy weather we here have warm and sunny weather! For example at the end of December 2009 Crete saw 30 C!!! And you had a cold and snowy snap! Also the greatest snowstorms here happend when UK was under the influence of the Gulf Stream!
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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Originally Posted by nei
Seems like disliking the feel of A/C is more common in Europe, wish more were like that here. Though it's easy to do when you live at 1230 meters. What are your hottest summer days like?
Most European places located above a latitude of 45º N are not extremely hot during summer, so they don't need it so much, except for few days within a heatwave.
Most European places located south of 45º N can get warm to hot summers, but it used to be dry heat, which is more affordable that those humid hot summers you have anywhere in the US east of the Rocky Mountains.
Hottest summer days here where I live mean 32º to 35º C highs to 17º to 20º C lows with low humidity, but it's rare to get more than 10 days like this on average, so we don't need A/C for 95% of summer days, and it doesn't make sense to buy an A/C device just to be used less than 10 days per year.
Look an example from this winter. High pressure in NW Europe so cold air masses from Siberia got pushed here in the South and we got a cold snap with snow.
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
Make sense, I assume a Spanish heat wave chart may be different?
A Spanish heat wave sometimes can develop later in a SE UK, Benelux and northern France heatwave, though it used to be shorter than here, and most of them end up suddenly by a thundery Spanish plume event.
On the other hand, Greek heat waves tend to move later to the Baltic sea or western Russia.
Anyway, all those heat waves we have in Euope used to be born in northern Africa, and that's why we often calls them as African heatwaves rather than Spanish heat wave.
Ours are often from an enlarged Bermuda high, so in a sense born from Atlantic Ocean. This brings a southerly flow of very humid air. Other cause is a more interior ridge bring a southwesterly flow,
Another strong heat wave of the latest years was the one in August 2010. I remember I couldn 't sleep at night and it was quite humid. Especially nights were really humid and very warm. It was uncomfortable.
Summer 1987 was hot in Malta, July had an average max of 33C & the top temperature was 40C... It was also a very dry year with just 230mm of rainfall recorded at Luqa.
The legendary month of July 1901 had something like 18 days with daily high exceeding 30C in Oslo, with absolute max 35C.
Also 35C in Trondheim, still the all time high.
Mar89 finally Larissa is the hottest city in heat waves. Today Larissa hit 37,5 C with 19,5 C at 850 hpa! :O That is impressive.
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