This is indeed a bizarre thread..
As a near neighbour (UK), I can tell you that 2003 was indeed exceptional across most of Europe. My home area north east of London was reduced to a desert by the end of August, and there were some accelerated deaths due to heat exhaustion.
Things reverted to type in 2004 with a thoroughly wet and pretty cold August which Paris suffered as well. With luck we will have a more 'average' summer this year and it will be pleasantly warm!
The reason traditionally that Paris emptied in August was that everybody got their holidays (vacations) at the same time (especially the central government) for the whole month, and they headed for somewhere which was guaranteed to be warmer and sunnier, like Provence. Now personally I would consider heading for, say, Nice or Sophia Antipolis in August would be tantamount to committing suicide - 38 deg C regularly, horrendous traffic, too many mosquitos at sea level - but that is a matter of opinion. AFAIC Paris in August is fine... still too many tourists and some things (like some restaurants) are shut but generally it will be OK and there is more than enough to see.
Oh, and BTW I can go there on an (air-conditioned) train in only 3 hours.
The USA should invest in a few high speed trains.. they are the world's best way to travel.
Regards, Elwyn
At 18:33 02/01/2005, you wrote:
Iljitsch van Beijnum <mailto:iljitsch@xxxxxxxxx> supposedly scribbled:
> On 2-jan-05, at 3:20, Glen Zorn ((gwz)) wrote: > >>> Of course, the MAXIMUM temperatures quoted in the *exceptional* >>> Paris summer of 2003 were 104 degrees Fahrenheit; > >> 2003 was, indeed, exceptional. OTOH, it is hardly exceptional that >> everyone who can leave the city in August, does. This is no doubt >> because it is just so damn pleasant they can't stand it, right? > > Well, AFAIK _everywhere_ in the US having air conditioning at home is > common,
Actually, hardly anyone has AC here in Seattle because historically it's been unneeded.
> while this is rare in middle / northern Europe. Don't forget > we are located much further to the north than major population > centers elsewhere in the world. > > Even though august is the warmest month, I think going on vacation > during that time is more a cultural thing than a climatological one. > I don't know how many vacation days people get in France, but I'm > pretty sure it's much more than what people in the US get (here in > Holland it's 22 or 24 days a year minimum). > > But anyway, if a conference center/hotel is going to hold more than a > thousand people, they'll have to have air conditioning, and if you > don't skimp on the hotel it will have this as well, so you'll be > exposed to the blistering Paris heat for just a few hours a day...
I hope so: as I recall, the air conditioning at the hotel in Munich was completely inadequate, to the point that people were passing out in conference rooms...
> > (And what I understand from the extra deaths due to the heat is that > it's people who die slightly earlier than they would have otherwise. > If it were a more fundamental problem this would shed a very > different light on the US practice to ship the elderly off to > Florida...)
We do not "ship the elderly off" to Florida (or Arizona, etc.). Only those who can afford to, go; and I assure you, they have AC.
> > BTW, how much worse are the Minneapolis temperatures in march vs > those in november?
Let's not go there: for some reason the powers-that-be have decided that it's a great idea to gather at least once if not twice a year in a place where people live like pet rodents, scurrying through tunnels to avoid their own homicidal weather and (apparently) a trip to the Mall (always capitalized, like "God" or "Rome") is considered to be a "social" event. I don't understand & I don't think I want to, though a forensic psychologist might find it a rich area for research.
Hope this helps,
~gwz
Why is it that most of the world's problems can't be solved by simply listening to John Coltrane? -- Henry Gabriel
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