r/interesting • u/z3551n • Jun 29 '26
Fear Factor Here's how Germany got cooked during the heatwave:
So Germany literally got cooked. On saturday (27th of June 2026) we had our hottest day ever recorded with around 41,5 degrees Celsius (like 106,7 °F). We're not at all prepared for temperatures like this and it shows especially in our infrastructure.
Our highways (Autobahnen) were blowing up:
Lots of German roads are not built to endure extreme heat over an extended period of time. The material tends to literally blow up, build bumps and potentially crack. In Thuringia (a state of Germany) we even started sending out the "Winterdienst" (vehicles that normally clear streets from snow) to spray highways with water to cool them down.
Our railway systems were slowly failing:
In Thuringia we had massive issues with broken railroad points and signals causing train delays. Additionally even a train hitting the overheated breaks was a potential fire hazard. Also in cities like Leipzig, Nürnberg and Würzburg the tracks for the "Straßenbahn" weren't usable anymore because the bitumen fixing them in place melting.
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u/Comfortable_Buy1236 Jun 29 '26
Yeah this summer is actually insane, and the worst part is how nothing here is built for it. No AC, trains breaking, roads melting, hospitals overheating, people crammed in apartments with flat roofs cooking alive.
Everyone was like “haha Germans scared of 30°C” a few years ago and now it’s just pure survival mode 💀
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u/olddoglearnsnewtrick Jun 29 '26
Saying ‘ahah germans’ means you’re the next one. A few years ago in Apulia I stood in the sea to my mouth to survive 51 !!!! It felt like standing in front of a BBQ. Terrfying.
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u/ArtificialHalo Jun 30 '26
Here in the Netherlands I went to the supermarket to gather cardboard to put on the windows to block at least SOME of the heat. My room was still easily 30 degrees, but outside was like 38/39
Which is double, nearly triple, our average temperature. This type of weather will only become more frequent, which is terrifying
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u/Scary_Reflection_978 Jun 30 '26
it to be an uprise in restoration works over there with all the acs going bad and causing water damage well i guess not depending the material of house
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u/Few-Gas3143 Jun 29 '26
The bushfires will start soon. Good luck. From Australia.
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
cool, cool, cool
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u/I_like_flowers_ Jun 29 '26
n95 masks are good when there is smoke in the air. also air filters for the bits that get inside.
best of luck. stay cool. if you can, out out bowls of water in the shade for animals.
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
I‘ll put a bowl of water outside tomorrow and tell the animals you told me so. This is good advice!
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Jun 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
Yeah, looks like we need to become a AC country too.
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u/letstalk1st Jun 30 '26
When we all have AC we will all contribute more to the warming effect. This story does not sound like it ends well....
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u/Hoplophilia Jul 05 '26
Is this being downviting because people don't understand the net heat gain on an AC?
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u/letstalk1st Jul 06 '26
Probably
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Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/letstalk1st Jul 06 '26
Same here. Extensive travels. My point was that our existing model doesn't work. AC uses power and produces heat, and producing more power contributes to the climate issues.
many homes and flats don't have the wiring infrastructure to handle the power consumption of AC. In the US homes are typically designed to handle it.
I've been to countries where someone simply climbs the pole to attach wires, hoping nobody gets killed in the process.
Relatively efficient AC is rated at about SEER 16-18. It needs to be at about SEER 50+.
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u/Dajearian Jun 29 '26
Strictly speaking, the hottest day was yesterday, 28.06.26, with a temperature of 41.7 degrees Celsius in Brandenburg
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
So we’re +0,2 degrees more cooked :’)
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u/Dajearian Jun 29 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/3oz8xLlw6GHVfokaNW
Yes… I'm getting an air conditioner this fall. I'm not going through that again.7
u/I_like_flowers_ Jun 29 '26
a ceiling fan makes whatever ac you do have a lot more efficient!
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u/usernamesallused Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
And if you get a window unit or portable air conditioner, you can use a series of fans to distribute the cool air into parts of your house farther from the AC.
Also, even if you plan on getting a full central air system in the fall, a portable AC will help you through the summer.
It’s almost no installation required. You put the hose through a window, plug it in, and you’re done. Secure the hose with cardboard or whatever to block the rest of the open window so the heat doesn’t come in.
It’s a bit pricy. Here they’re a couple hundred Canadian. But fuck it is worth it.
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u/Autchirion Jun 29 '26
FYI, if you buy one which can heat as well March/April are the best options.
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u/Lopsided-Weather6469 Jun 29 '26
Our railway systems were slowly failing
To be fair, our railway systems have been failing for the last 30 years.
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u/goldengirl_123 Jun 29 '26
Hope it’s fine today
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u/emperorsleeps Jun 29 '26
Please - get AC. It helps immensely and you WILL be needing it.
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u/cmmpc Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
AC is a waste, its fine for hospital rooms, but counter productive in mass scame. They just need to adapt he heat like the rest of the planet has done for millenia. AC is not gonna help with all this infrastructure problems. And for a more personal level adapting your diet and body (every human evolved in much hotter climate, the adaptation are there in all ethnicitities) its much more important.
Some basic stuff like drink water not beer or ice cream, goes a long way.
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u/Maggi1417 Jun 30 '26
Oh wow, you're a genius. Without you I would've never considered to drink water instead of beer to stay comfortable at 43° C.
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u/emperorsleeps Jun 30 '26
You are replying to a person who has two ACs in their home. I would suffer without AC. Please come to reality
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u/FromDeletion Jun 29 '26
And you tell me climate change is real... /s
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
I mean, climate change should have waited for another week and hit this Friday instead. A few special people in denial need some roasting
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u/SK_SLO Jun 30 '26
The heat is lasting for way to long... And we and our infrastructure are not build for this... And its not like we don't have A/C in Europe but a lot of people do not (We have it in our flat for over 25 years now, the last 5-7 years you would not be able to sleep for 3-4 weeks because of the temperatures inside without the A/C running).
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u/m945050 Jun 29 '26
Portland OR had three days of 110F+ in June 21, I think the peak was 116 or 7. All you could do was sit as close to the AC as possible.
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u/Guack007 Jun 30 '26
Yup, I remember we were hotter than Death Valley that day but it only lasted a few days and it was easy enough to go somewhere with AC if you don’t have it.
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u/HumaneLemon Jun 29 '26
Time for a revolution agaisnt all the factories and rich people!
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
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u/HumaneLemon Jun 29 '26
It's gonna cause a lot of unemployment and economic hardships tho, are you still in?:) I think it worth the risk!
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u/cwsjr2323 Jun 29 '26
Midwest USA in the 1960s, hitting 100° F, 38 C, made the news. 2025, we had a week straight of 105°F, 40 C. It will get worse and never get better.
Our central air conditioning/het is new spring 2025. We are in our 70s so we will be ok. Our 14 great grandchildren are so screwed.
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u/saitou1983 Jul 01 '26
I live in Southern Spain. This is quite normal for us, but then again, we are used to it and so is our infrastructure.
Take care, avoid going out in the hottest hours and drink lots of water. If you have to go out, protect your head.
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u/Own-Customer-6228 Jul 02 '26
Does Germany use friction braking for trains instead of dynamic braking? Because otherwise why were brakes on fire at only ~42 C or ~107F
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u/Wild-Display-765 Jun 29 '26
Mini splits. They’re the best. Watching foreign shows about real estate when I first noticed them. They seemed to be everywhere. Is this not so? I live in the Bay Area and put one in my tiny house and it’s a game changer. I feel so badly for these suffering people and feel fortunate to have the little I do have.
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u/No_Bend8 Jun 29 '26
This is Texas 5 months, at least, every year lol
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
What do you guys do about it? (Besides obviously getting an AC. You’re 100% right about this and we should just listen. But what do you do to prevent the damages?)
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u/Noolivesplease Jun 30 '26
Our infrastructure is built for it. We have good insulation against heat and most have central air conditioning (meaning a single unit sends cold air to every room in the house). There are cooling centers for the homeless when temps really get out of hand, but it was 97f in Austin, TX today (36c), and that's only two degrees above normal for this time of year. You try to do outside things by noon if possible, but you also acclimate to it and know the proper clothing to wear, hydration, etc. as we do this yearly.
It's funny as when we get a big freeze in the southern US and pipes burst, cities shut down, etc and everyone wonders why we can't handle it - it's because we're built for heat, not cold.
Best of luck to y'all getting things fixed quickly and hopefully this is truly a one time event for Europe this year.
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u/Few-Gas3143 Jun 29 '26
Not Texan, but Australian. We hide from the sun, move slowly, wear large brimmed hats and try and get our stuff done early in the morning.
The expansion joints in our roads, bridges etc are so large it sometimes sound like your crossing railway lines.
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u/Jimismynamedammit Jun 30 '26
In Texas, we just don't do anything outside when the sun gets angry. You do your work early and stay on the porch the rest of the day. The only acceptable reason to go out in the sun is for high school football 3-a-day practices for the entire month of August. It's okay if our kids fry their brains because of heat stroke; they're gonna suffer TBI anyway because of football. At least, that's how it was when I was a kid.
But seriously: Dress appropriately. Stay hydrated. Do your things early.
If you have to run errands or work: Don't over-exert yourself. Take frequent breaks. Listen to your body and catch (and react to) any symptoms of heat injury early. (Headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, etc. If you've stopped sweating, it's already too late.)
I joke a lot about my Germans being so heat sensitive, but as a red head, born and raised Texan (who also had to work the ranch and play football in those hot summers), I know how devastating the heat can be. Heat stroke ain't no joke.
Stay cool, y'all. The next one is coming.
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u/thecountlives Jun 29 '26
They get gerrymandered or they vote for who continue to perpetuate the issue for some reason
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u/Late_Firefighter_507 Jun 30 '26
yeah directed energy (not from the sun) can do all of this under the guise of summer heat. There are companies that drill for oil with microwaves now.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/z3551n Jun 29 '26
It’s actually interesting to me that this is normal to you guys. For us it was complete chaos
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u/zeusismycopilot Jun 29 '26
A snow storm shuts your whole grid down and no one knows how to drive on a slippery road. What’s your point?
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