In reply to Catspa's comments, my parents were from New England, and I still have family all over northern New England, so I know all about the climate there. Pennsylvania where I grew up was a lot like that, too, though not quite as cold. Just as hot and humid and buggy in the summer. No thank you! I'm willing to endure a cold winter if the payoff is a pleasant summer, but I would not willingly submit myself to both forms of misery.

By the way, I'm assuming Marlorena doesn't have the benefit of air-conditioning in her home - it's very unusual in the UK - although with global warming, perhaps this will change in the future. Central heating, with cosy radiators in every room, is what the majority of homes have over there...

Could someone please remind me, should I ever express on this forum a sudden impulsive desire to relocate to the Americas, not to go and live in any of those states of the USA mentioned above, with those very extreme extremes of temperature. And the humidity.

Full of admiration, and not a little envy, for those hardy cultivars that can manage it....

:¬{]

..thanks for your comments... always interesting to read of how we all cope with our climates...I note some of you at least have air conditioning to fall back on, almost unknown here as it just wouldn't be needed that much... it hit 97 at one point and is now 80 deg. at 9.30 pm... we're not really used to this and I felt almost suffocating this afternoon... I go out to work in the evenings where there is air con...it was a relief actually...

Comtesse... thanks for all the advice too.. I will make a note of some of those as it might come in useful if we get any more of this...

edit...I've just seen your post above...and of course you are spot on with your first paragraph....

..I cannot recall a day quite as hot as this but perhaps it's an age thing.. when young, we might not take so much notice and just enjoy it for what it is...

I am lizard woman and bask in it - in fact, I was digging my pond at the allotment (while Mr.Camps scuffed about wilting and moaning).
Right next door to the allotment, a huge building site is in full swing and I was slightly alarmed to notice 2 building workers leering whilst I was spraying myself lightly with the hose (that wet T.shirt thing, I guess)..Unsurprisingly, I have whined long and fulsomely on this very forum about my extreme wimpiness with just a threat of chill (heated shoe insoles saved my life). I would relocate to Rio in a heartbeat.

I learned from observing my late much-missed dog Homer: When it's very hot, find some tiled floor that doesn't get direct sun, and lie down on it. It's always cooler than the surroundings, and there's always a (relatively) cool breeze along the floor. Carpets or rugs seem to hold heat, and I suspect wood would as well. And you get to have the fun of someone running across you sprawled out on the floor and thinking you're dead.

We are probably similar to England.

We don't get warm weather too often here but it will be in the 90's for the next couple days. A rare thing, especially so early in the year. It is also rare to have air-conditioned houses. I garden early or late in the day. Close the curtains and close all my windows early in the a.m. and open everything back up at night and lots of fans and lots of showers (and as few clothes as possible:) We are mostly wimps here and complain when it hits 75 degrees and I've heard people asking, "When is it going to rain?"

Fans. Fans. Fans. If it gets cooler at night, keep windows closed during the day and open them at night with a ventilating fan in one of them to pull the hot air out of the house and replace it with cooler air. Other than that, lots of ice water to drink. The key thing whether the nights are cool. If they are not -- whoo boy. Trouble.

We did break down and bought a small air conditioner for one room in the house -- the dining room, otherwise it becomes impossible to sit and have dinner.

I do something outside that involves getting very wet from the colder hose water. We are so humid here that I'll be wet from sweating anyway within 10 minutes, so I go on and get soaked :) I do hate having to work on anything outside that can't involve the hose like that. And always drink a lot of water, yep. I drink part Gatorade, too. We wear very little in our yards in the summer, btw! I could totally get away with wearing a bikini to water my plants in if I felt like it (but I don't).

Speaking of dogs and hot weather, I have a Decker rat terrier named Archie who absolutely hates baths. He is strong enough that giving him one takes two seriously dedicated adults grimly focused on the task. However, in this hot weather, Archie has discovered the pleasure that a dog can take from a sponge bath. I take a small terrycloth towel and wet it well it with lukewarm water. Then I massage him all over with the wet cloth. It cools him off pleasantly. He doesn't even mind that he is getting clean. Indeed he may not even notice it is happening, but I do!

Hit 109 yesterday. At 8 PM today it was 101. Loud thunderstorms in the mountains with large hail. Nothing down here but the noise from the thunder and humidity! I was out in the yard looking at transplanting a lemon tree! I decided to change my house flag instead. Gotta get ready for the 4th.

"96 degrees in the shade...what do you all do.?" Stay in the shade!!!! :-)

Yeap! Unless you can take a dip in the Med. No chance for that over there Marlorena, I'm very sorry. Over here when it gets that hot (and often hotter) the heat is most always very dry. That makes a huge difference in the discomfort factor. I know it is not the same over there. I have had bad experience with London heat in the high 80s where I felt I would suffocate. Wall to wall permanent carpeting, windows not opening widely, lack of window blinds and general non-availability of aircon (at least when I used to live over there many moons ago) didn't help either. Worse experience was having to ride the non-airconed Tube on the way to work. An electric fan strategically positioned opposite where you sit helps a lot.

..we're alright with air circulation, lots of windows and doors to open.. and we have fans too... but yesterday was about my limit... I barely had the energy to bother with the internet... I think as others have said, you acclimatise to this sort of thing, and a one off doesn't do that... today a little cooler, 80 deg. and rather humid...

... no Med,... but we do have some nice coastline, nonetheless... unfortunately, I don't swim... can't even ride a bike...

No problem, Marlorena - pop a handful of Mediterranean sea-salt and some sushi seaweed in the bath and jump in!

Am loving hearing everybody's stories and strategies...

:¬)

Marlorena, in response to the original question, 'What do you all do?", the quick answer is: as little as possible.

As for acclimatizing, some people do that better than others. I grew up in the SC Lowcountry, and every summer is a struggle, and always has been as long as I can remember. Each June, I start my countdown to autumn when I can enjoy being outdoors again.

It's currently clouding up and thundering; I do hope we'll get some rain... yesterday the rain just barely missed us, so I had to go out and water anyway.

Hope you're done with your one-day "heat wave",

Virginia

Virginia... as little as possible seems a sensible solution.. the only one as I can see...

...I shall remind myself not to visit SC Lowcountry in June.... is there anywhere in the States that's...moderate?...you know, just nice without extremes? how about Maine?..I relate very much to Barbara in Seattle's post above.... anything over mid 70'sF for a few days is a heatwave to us, and ours is scheduled for at least 10... so I think we should be twinned with Seattle...

I would think that coastal Seattle or Oregon would be pretty moderate, though Seattle is often hotter than San Francisco in the summer. If you want to really be chilly, San Fran hits the spot in the summer. Carmel, California, is usually wonderful in summer. It's days can be very changeable, though. Start cool, maybe some fog, then some heat, and back to cool for the evenings. Wonderful. Diane

Malorena,

Try San Francisco during mid to late August, maybe even July??. The trip where I learned my lesson during mid-August involved going from the airplane to a taxi, and directly to the dept. store to purchase a jacket; and I am a California native ( Southern CA though). It seemed like what I know as a California Autumn ( my favorite season) in August. San Francisco and the coastline south of it is usually very nice when it is an inferno other places ( Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Diane recommended Carmel, )...

Lynn

Yes, I think your best chance for moderate summer weather is probably the Left Coast, though I hear that New England can often be quite nice, also. The nicest summer weather I've experienced was in Ontario in July some years back.

But timing is everything; sometimes I look at the weather map, and see that places in the Northeast are having hotter temps than we are here.

June isn't usually as brutal here as it was this year; it's not easy to know when unusual weather is just down to climatic variability, or if it's a portent of future trends. I sincerely hope that those super-hot, dry temps early in the summer are not planning to become the norm here...

That t-storm passed us by... rats! Hopefully, we'll get another chance soon.

Virginia

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." (often attributed to Mark Twain, but author actually unknown). Amazing to say that San Francisco is only 44 miles by road, 35 miles as the crow flies, from hyper-hot Livermore, but what a world of difference. Fleece, and even down, is popular for summer wear in the city. My daughter, who lives in San Francisco, comes here to thaw out in the summer and see the sun (her end of the city is usually in fog).

We're having a bit of the same heatwave as England, but not quite as hot, 87F today. Still too hot for me, especially as I had a small garden party today and we've very little shade in the garden. I used to love heat and used to boast of the months I spent in Khartoum, Sudan in 1965. Average May temps were 109 with a record heat one day of 116F. I was in an international work camp and carried cement and bricks mornings and evenings and went shopping (for soap, I used 13 soaps in two months) in the siesta break in the mid-day heat without problems. But that was dry desert heat, a huge difference from the humidity of New Orleans in June. I don't know how hot it was but it felt much hotter than Khartoum. The desert cools in the night to about 77F, quite pleasant. My advice is to wear wide, white clothes, a hat and not undress.

With the fibromyalgia I cannot tolerate much at all in the way of temperature swings so these increasingly hot conditions pretty well have me house-bound . It's too hot for me even in the morning as soon as the sun is out so now I only go out in the evenings after the sun has gone down. Without our central air conditioning I literally don't know how I would survive. Fortunately I read a lot and belong to quite a few forums on Chinese porcelain in addition to this one, so that helps me stay connected to people and my passions. In the late evening on the days I can water I'm now constantly running the hose water up my arms and on my legs and feet so that I don't start to feel faint. I will venture out during the day for two-minute sprints to check the water I have around the garden for the wild animals, but often my husband does that too for me. I feel very useless at times, but always tell myself there are people worse off (dear comtesse is one) and all we can do is make the best of it, and be thankful for all the things that still give pleasure.

..interesting responses, thank you, and a little surprising to me.... if you're old enough to remember the 1960's...and obviously mariannese is above there, then I fell in love with California at that time, being young and impressionable.... it was THE place to be, or so I thought.... I blame The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, Scott McKenzie... flower power, hippies all sun and sand, and everyone was rich, good looking and having a great time.... all the best tennis players seemed to be from there too...

...life for me was just the opposite...

...and of course San Francisco, or Hollywood, was central to all that...

...latterly, I fell in love with Montana.... I think I could stand the short hot summers, but the freezing winters would do me in...

Ingrid,... that kind of heat seems increasingly difficult to live with... I'm pleased to hear you have other interests to occupy your time...

The freezing winters are not that bad...you can build a fire! In the summer, you can only find so much shade :)

We live in eastern Washington state (about five miles from Idaho and 70 miles from Montana) and it's been uppers 90s and lower 100s all week. That's hot, even for us! But at night, the temperatures usually drop back down to 40s and 50s.

The nice thing is that normally, we don't have much humidity during the day (usually less than 20%). We have a creek behind the house, so at night...the humidity is about 80%.

In the winter, it goes down to 27 below zero (F) and that's pretty cold! LOL When you love to garden, you realize that shrubs and perennials are your friends...and trees if you have space. Annuals are great for extra color, but I'll probably need a greenhouse to grow a decent tomato!

The dry heat here is tough, but the rest of the year makes up for it. Very very dry, and I am a total inside hermit during the day. Air conditioning is a must, and I also run two large box fans to keep the air moving a lot. Temps of 106 ish to 110 ish for several weeks, with the occasional day or two at 115 to 117.

From this point forward when I do have to go to town (I live in a rural area), I start up the car and the a/c going first.

Garden work and animal care is done from 5:30 a.m. until it hits about 80 in the sun, then I'm done for. I've lived in the heat for over 30 years now, and I never have acclimated to it. However, I have also lived in humid areas and never ever again would I do that. Dry heat is much the preference and, there are so many roses that love the heat.

I enjoy the winters here too, in that we actually get no snow, but frost for several weeks with the avg. low temp being about 12F or so. But, the days warm up, nice lovely 40-50F days. Just enough cold to feel a real break from the summers but not like "real" cold, which I have lived in too, and don't like! The summers here are a long inside-only time but worth it.

The reason we undress here instead of wearing nice, thin, covering clothes is because clothes stick to you so much! It's the humidity. The sticky, sweaty feeling really is pretty awful.

Marlorena, yes, I can remember the sixties. I was in California myself in the sixties--going to college, getting married, and having a genuine California girl (baby) there. What were you doing in Cal in the sixties besides falling in love with it? That's a long way from England! Diane

Diane,... I am sorry for the misinterpretation of my post.... I wasn't actually in California in the 60's but perhaps my heart was... living in a dreary small village in rural England, 'California Dreamin'...'If You're Going to San Francisco'...etc... those kind of songs made me feel I wanted to be there too... it was THE place on the map....
...of course we had the Beatles, but they seemed so rough to me, compared to,say , The Beach Boys.... and as a tennis fan, there was Billie Jean King, from Long Beach... now that place may have been a dump for all I knew, but it sounded wonderful and I wanted to be part of that... I started playing tennis at the time, and longed to copy her style, although truth be told, I wasn't sure I liked her that much...

...I suppose you must feel a touch Californian yourself, and your daughter too..?

Katie... several weeks of 110-115 is something I find difficult to imagine..although I did spend some time in Australia during their summer, but when you're a tourist, it doesn't seem so bad...

Hot Summer days here are like winter in cold places--I don't do much to the garden except look at it--from inside the house.

We have 93F in shade and 76% humidity, which is rising until it rains this afternoon most likely. Central Fl coast weather is like New Orleans. Would be jumping in pool if it weren't a garden. Everything, especially weeds grow fast this time of year. Mrs. BR Cant has been in ground for six months and is quite territorial, stretching out to 7 ft. x 8ft wide and 4ft tall. Quite elegant in how she arches her branches over her bed mates. This sort of weather gives a boost to weeds and everything else so my gardening at this time of year is trying to pull up every weed I can and cover with mulch to stay ahead of them. I can't stay ahead of them though, I did this last month too. Weeding took four hours a couple of days ago, and I was drenched with sweat and only 40% completed. So an early start and finish later. Ironically, when the weather is nice in the winter I only need to weed once, it takes a couple of hours and I'm done.

Malorena, Long Beach is definitely not a dump. It's one of the most expensive places to live in a very expensive state. Only Hawai'i has higher priced real estate than California. Funny that you were falling in love with California growing up. We Americans of the same generation were all in love with England. As for me, I ended up moving to California (where I have now lived 25 years) and I frequently visit England, two dreams come true. Neither one is the way I pictured in my teens, and both are better than I had imagined.

Katie, are you from either Arizona or New Mexico? We have family in Arizona, and I don't visit from May to September. It is simply too hot for me. Actually I try to avoid the southern third of the country during that part of the year. I don't have Ingrid's excuse, but I do wilt in the heat. Worse than wilting, I become irritable and snappish, and I don't enjoy my own company. I certainly don't want to inflict that on the perfectly nice people around me.

We have dropped back down into the mid-80's for the 4th of July weekend. Warmer than I prefer, but certainly quite bearable. I have finished spreading all the compost and mulch I'm going to spread this year, the new irrigation is set up, and I don't have plans to move any more plants. Some early morning deadheading and random weed pulling should be the extent of my garden work through the rest of the hot times. At least that is my plan. I'll probably do some sewing this weekend. I want a couple of new outfits for our vacation.

Rosefolly

It's 66 degrees right now, this morning was 53, had to wear a jacket to work. Come to the Great Lakes everyone, we can all gardening in the ice hole! :-) The houses are cheap here compare to CA, but the property tax and oth taxes are very high. It's really cold in the winter........

Summers, I can't imagine such cool temps in July. We just finished our hottest June on record. A few months ago, we had a warmest February on record.
Here's the predicted temperature rankings for the nation today. It doesn't include small towns, or good old Death Valley, which is routinely the nation's hot spot.
1. Las Vegas--110 (Boise was 110 last Sunday).
2. Phoenix--108
3. Palm Springs--107
4. Boise--103 Break out the fireworks and set the desert on fire! We're number four.
5. Fresno/Tuscon--102 Tied for fifth.
This is a repeat of 2013, with 2014 being only slightly cooler.
Diane

Rosefolly... thank you for the information on Long Beach.. more or less confirming what I thought about it all those years ago... I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed many trips to England over the years... I'm afraid I've only been to Los Angeles after all this, and perhaps that's not the best example of California... although I rather liked it at the time... so I never did get to San Francisco...

Hi Diane,

My national weather report for today report:

1. Las Vegas, NV 108 ( surprising as we are usually #2, behind Phoenix. I wonder if their hottest month is August, versus, well, we are in ours now )

2. Phoenix, AZ 107

3. Palm Springs, CA 107

4. Boise, ID I00

5. Fresno, CA 100

My local Las Vegas weather is a high of 104. It is hot!!! My husband and I had the audacity to go out looking at R.V.'s a couple of hours ago. When we returned, I placed my own root bands on the covered patio and I will not be out again until 7 p.m. Thank goodness the heat begins its decline in mid August, but for now it is brutal outside!!

Try to stay cool:)

Lynn

Diane, I am living in a huge ice hole here, right now is 75 degrees by my house (away from the Lake), it warmed up a little since noon. Starting tomorrow we will have a heat wave for 10 days 79-88 degrees, but so far we had a lot of cool days, only had about 1 week above 80 degrees. I am close to Lake Erie, not too far from Lake Ontario. You guys have hot summer, we have really really long and cold winter here. We have a lot of "snow birds"(people) here, they're here for the summer, and fly down south for the winter. :-)

Lynn, That's really hot! I hope you found a RV you like. RV camping is always fun! :-)

Lynn, weather.com says it's currently 102 in Boise at 5:51. I doubt I am outside before 8 pm and will work till dark, which is about 10 pm up here (very long days). I just wish we had those long seasons that you do. Our fall is nice for a while; then suddenly it's cold. I think we have just two seasons: winter and summer.
Summers, your temps sound wonderful, and I'll bet your roses look a lot better than mine, of those of mine still blooming. Your area also sounds like a great place for a summer vacation. I should join the snowbirds, but I've got to make sure this garden stays alive.
Diane

Diane,

Believe it or not, the Weather Channel is rated #2 for the most accurate weather. Weather Underground has been ranked #1. My husband uses that program, as well as others, and has all kind of weather gismos ( I married a science/math geek). We had equipment on or previous home that provided specific weather information for our property. Right now, I use Weatherbug which ranks in the top 10. I like it because the weather report comes from a station less than a mile from my home ( that will change to the report for my absolute location when my husband gets things set up again and fed into WU) . Talk about accuracy, although right now, 108.. 106.. 99.. it is all the same... HOT!!.

I find that especially, with my baby roses during the summer, I must keep up with what is going on in terms of the temperature.

Summers, we weren't serious shoppers, but to be out in this heat we should have been. We were just looking, and pondering options for future travel when we retire ( we have "a ways"?? to go..). Today, we decided to focus upon a hot tub instead. I know... right now it sounds crazy...

73.8 F. right now in the aforementioned Long Beach, a stone's throw from where I live. About Long Beach, next to which I've lived all my life, my favorite quote, giving the true essence of the city, is from a visiting participant in its Grand Prix, who, asked about the entertainment in the city's downtown area, responded something on the order of, "I think it got closed for the weekend."

aah I see....sounds like my kind of place.....
...I did get as far as Venice Beach, which isn't too far away... rather lively...

One particularly vile summer, when I found myself planting 6 trays of 4" daisies in the heat of the day, I turned on the sprinkler and worked under it the whole time--lovely! Then I squelched over to the patio, turned on the fan, and sprawled in an Adirondack chair slurping a powerade slush till I felt human again.

Despite the cooler temps and rain, everyone is complaining about what a sweaty summer this is. We normally have a somewhat humid climate, but this year we're enjoying Louisianian and Floridian levels of humidity, and it's leaving us wringing wet.

Just to add--do respect the heat. If you're young, it can make you ill (a friend of mine was out of commission for a couple of days last week from heat stroke), and if you're older or have a dicky ticker, it can kill, as happened to my grandfather, with his previously undiagnosed heart condition. Work in the mornings, take frequent breaks, drink sports drinks, use fans. And, as the yoga instructors say, "honor your body"--if it tells you to stop, stop!

And may blessings rain upon the soul of Willis Carrier, inventor of the modern AC. I ♥ U, Willis!

Aha, I wondered where the name Carrier came from, and why it's plastered on so many ACs. My neighbor is going to have to beseech Carrier's spirit for some additional blessings, judging from the ungodly racket said neighbor's AC is making. The AC fixers were out a couple of days ago, but it sounds. like they didn't do their job, or maybe the poor AC is just dying from overwork. Diane

I dont mind the hot weather as long as strong wind isnt with it. I put up umbrellas and shade cloth over small potted plants or move them under trees. I have a friend who teaches history to kids at Rileys farm near Riverside CA and they wear 1770s clothes there even in 90+ temps.

What they do is to soak the white cloth "tucker" that goes around your neck at the top of the bodice before they put it on and then wring it out. When its dry, they just wet it again. I do the same thing with a bandanna or a light cotton blouse and wear it over a swim top. I can do all kinds of things in the shade and when the sun moves, I go to another spot thats shady. We were at Los Encinos State Park for a Victorian Picnic during the last heatwave. Everyone in bustle dresses and suits sitting in the shade of a 98 F day. I cheated and wore an Edwardian white lawn/lace dress. Thats an interesting place and has a very old adobe from the Mission times. It has its own spring water source ( now a duck pond with fountain ). The drought of the 1860s caused the ranchers to start raising sheep instead of cattle.

I did feel a lift in my spirits when the weather cooled in to the 70s for a time. We even got some morning mists and cloudy days. The cool temps and humidity brought on some lovely roses with good perfume. PJPII is having a flush of near perfect blooms and yesterday there was a very fragrant Rouge Royale. It's nice to have a break from the heat and the plants think so too.

Girls with tuckers on

I garden at night. Sometimes I'm out there at 2AM. My neighbors must think I'm nuts, oh well.

Night gardening is great isn't it. Especially on full moon nights.

As long as you can see, night gardening under the moonlight sounds pretty cool! :-) I have sprayed my roses in the dark many times, it's just not enough time after work. I get my work done day and night. :-)

I like gardening at night, but don't like the skunks, they get sprayed with the hose.