I am from India,who has shifted to the UK. It’s been 3-4 years, however UK summers feel unbearable compared to Indian summers. My skin feels like it’s burning at 25° in the UK but 25° in India is so much more pleasant. I understand that it’s closer to the sun since the earth is slightly tilted, but make it make sense that my skin burns while in the UK, but I’m just really sweaty in India, without the burning sensation.
In: Other
I am Canadian. Canadians can often be spotted because they will be wearing summer clothes when everyone else is still in light sweaters because the Canadians either just finished winter or are in the middle of one in Canada.
I now live in the Tropics and what I consider nice is at a far higher temperature now than I would have considered nice before. Temperature variability and acclimatization highly affects your perception of temperature.
Here is an answer that a meteorologist once told me in a bar because I had a simliar question
Building design – countries with higher average temperatures year round have buildings designed to cope with that climate. The UK’s properties and infrastructure (think typical lack of air con and fixed fans) are designed for colder weather.
Acclimitization – if you’re used to colder temperatures on average in a region, when a hotter temperature comes along it ‘feels’ hotter because of the contrast.
Urban heat island effects – London has a warmer climate than the surrounding countryside. Concrete soaks up heat and radiates it back for longer and the buildings over a large area act as wind breaks.
then there’s wind, humidity, cloud cover, day duration (summer days are longer in the UK than in India) etc Sometimes in weather apps you get the temperature and then the ‘feels like’ temperature based on some of those factors.
Humidity. It makes the heat stick to you in a way that you can escape.
I used to live in the Midwest, and I remember summers with temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit and humidity in the 80s. Even in the shade, you’re basically sitting in a pool of your own sweat; it’s miserable.
Now, I live in the desert. It’s not unusual for it to be 105 in the summer here, but our humidity is like 6 to 10 percent. Yes, it’s cooking in the direct sunlight, but once you get into the shade, it’s much better.
Friends will come to visit me from the Midwest and they agree that 105 degrees here is much more bearable than 85 degrees back east.
I’m from Florida but currently in NYC (going through the heat wave). I’m used to 90 degree weather (and with much more humidity), but here it’s pretty unbearable. A big part of it is that the buildings and infrastructure are more designed to protect from cold than they are from heat (applies to both NYC and UK). It tends to be colder for much more of the year… But when it does get hot, the heat is just inescapable. In Florida every building has central air conditioning and/or is well ventilated, with other structural considerations to minimize heat capture. However here, almost everywhere I go is very hot, I’m sweating constantly. You really feel it’s presence constantly.
That’s been my experience, I’d imagine it holds true for UK vs India. India has always been a very hot region so everything has been designed to minimize the heat
Aside from the atmosphere and humidity, you can’t understate the psychology of UK heat being less escapable, since households in the UK are designed for heat insulation whereas the opposite is the case in India.
Humidity keeps evaporative cooling from working efficiently, so sweat no longer cools you as well.
I’ve never been to the UK or India, but I know 110 in Alabama is absolutely death, while 120 in Arizona isn’t near as bad
Simple acclimatization. You go somewhere and live there a while, you get used to it. I was stationed in the desert a few years, got used to living in that blast furnace like greeting every time I opened the door.
I went home and it was like 80 out on a late spring day, and I was shivering a bit. Took me a while to get used to 80 being warm again when it was already in the mid 90s with zero cloud cover where I’d left.
It’s the same reason why I’ll see people at the mall in tee shirts on the first 60 degree day of spring, but in the first 60 degree day of fall those same people will be in hoodies or jackets.
One word: Air Pollution.
Remember that 25deg is the temperature of the air in the shade. It is NOT a measure of how hot the sun feels. If you stand in the shade in 25deg, it will feel approx the same in both places. If you step out in the sun, clearer air in the UK or US make the sun’s rays feel like hot embers, while the pollution in India means you are always in somewhat ‘diffused’ sunlight, almost like a constant half-shade, making it much more bearable.
Also is your diet different? Many spices and advantages in hotter climate cuisine to help with the body’s adjusting to the temperature difference.
humidity. the moisture in the air transfers heat well.
india and other areas in asia have low moisture in the air.
we were in kashmir couple years ago – 40°c there were fine, while 20!c in ireland feels like you’re dying.
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