Heat wave cancels schools and fries UK nights

In the UK heat wave that pushed temperatures toward 36°C, one American family in Wales says there’s no air conditioning at home—so nights are unbearable, schools closed early, businesses adjusted or shut, trains were canceled, and families improvised with base

On Tuesday, the heat arrived with the certainty of a warning turning into reality. Temperatures were expected to reach up to 36 degrees Celsius (about 96 degrees Fahrenheit). but it wasn’t until the heat actually hit—then worsened through Wednesday and Thursday—that the scale of the problem became impossible to ignore.

For a household that moved to Wales from Maryland 15 years ago. and previously lived in Louisiana. the expectation was that experience in hot summers would translate. It didn’t. The family says they are “very much not coping. ” and that it feels like the UK. unlike other places. simply isn’t built for this kind of sustained heat.

The first problem is the one no amount of good intentions can solve: there’s no air conditioning at home. In the United States. the writer remembers dripping in sweat in summer. then collapsing indoors near an air-conditioning vent—often ideal under a ceiling fan. Here, houses “haven’t historically needed air conditioning because it has never been this hot.”.

Thursday, the family says, was the hottest June day on record, ever. Air conditioning units do exist, but during the heat wave the prices have risen—“in some cases by hundreds of pounds”—turning a potential escape into a cost many can’t bear.

By day, the house feels like heat—by night, it becomes something else. The bedrooms are described as “actually like saunas.” No one is sleeping. and the next day arrives with everyone moving around like “zombies.” In the same neighborhood. supermarkets with air conditioning become a kind of refuge: people flock to them to walk around or simply loiter. Other businesses without air conditioning have closed, unable to justify the risk to employees and customers struggling in the heat.

The ripple effect lands hardest on parents and kids. Most schools. the writer says. are supposed to remain open until the middle of July. but schools closed on Wednesday and Thursday. That left parents like the writer to figure out how to entertain children while still trying to work. The schools. they add. are “ancient. ” and even with the lights off. fans on. and windows open. kids and teachers struggle to focus on math.

Inside the house, entertainment has shifted fast. TV and video games have become the main tools of survival this week. described as a desperate attempt to distract children while work continues. The comparison the writer makes is sharp: it “feels like the pandemic all over again. ” with the same sense of being trapped indoors and improvising day-to-day.

Even when the family tries to step outside, the temperature follows. The writer takes their kids to buy ice cream to keep them entertained—because. like the rest of the country. there are few other reliable ways to cool down. Neighborhood pools in parts of the US are remembered as a summer staple. but the writer says there is no outdoor pool near them in Wales.

On Tuesday, they attempted an indoor pool. Instead, they were told it was closed because the lifeguards said it was 42 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) where they sit in their chairs. It’s a detail that captures how the heat has moved beyond weather and into safety decisions.

Transport is also breaking under the heat. Trains are being canceled because the tracks are too hot, and the writer says: “Everyone, everyone, is very, very hot.”

To survive, the family retreats to a small basement where the husband and three kids join the writer. Fans have been put in nearly every room. Windows stay closed and curtains are drawn, meant to keep hot air out and cooler air in. But that effort brings its own problem: condensation, described as wet and appearing in nearly every room of the house.

There are stopgap measures—water bottles in the freezer, and cold showers at night before bed—but even those come with limits. The freezer is “slowly giving up,” and the writer warns that the solution won’t last.

The household keeps finding small escapes: every afternoon. the kids are taken to buy ice-creams; there’s a little paddling pool in the back garden. and the family takes turns sitting in it to cool off. The nights end with cold showers, and then the day begins again in rooms that never really shed the heat.

The sequence of facts doesn’t leave much room for interpretation. Temperatures were forecast to reach as high as 36 degrees Celsius. then worsened through Wednesday and Thursday; schools closed on Wednesday and Thursday; businesses with air conditioning pull in crowds while others shut; trains stop due to heat on tracks; and one family’s daily survival becomes a rotating set of basement shelter. fans. freezer water. ice cream. a paddling pool. and cold showers.

And for the writer—an American who has lived in both the US and the UK—the conclusion is blunt: living through a heat wave in the UK is “so much worse” than it is in the US.

UK heat wave Wales air conditioning prices school closures train cancellations condensation ice cream summer temperatures 36 degrees Celsius 42 degrees Celsius pool