1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 2: For a while now, like years, in the wake of 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 2: years of rising temperatures, seemingly every summer being hotter than 7 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 2: the one before, or at least as hot heat waves 8 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 2: all over the world, I've really wanted to do some 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 2: kind of episode about a historical heat wave. And I've 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 2: written episodes over the years of doing this show about 11 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 2: other weather phenomena and other natural disasters like Hurricane San Seriaco, 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 2: the Schoolhouse Blizzard, the Long Winter, the Vanport flood, the 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 2: year without a Summer, various earthquakes and fires and tsunamis 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 2: and volcanic eruptions. We've got a lot of this in 15 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 2: the archive, but never anything about a heat wave. 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: In a lot of the. 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 2: World today, Hey, heat waves just don't get as much 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 2: attention as blizzards and floods and hurricanes, even though extreme 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 2: heat is one of the deadliest weather events on average, 20 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 2: and that is actually true in a lot of historical 21 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: writing as well. I had a wealth of resources to 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 2: draw from on all of those other episodes that I 23 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 2: just mentioned, but getting the information together about heat waves 24 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 2: from the past turned out to be a lot trickier. 25 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 2: So instead of doing one episode about one heat wave, 26 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 2: which is what I was planning when I started this, 27 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 2: we are going to take a shorter look at three 28 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 2: of them. As a note, it is very possible that 29 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 2: when we mentioned specific temperatures in this episode, your first 30 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 2: thought might be that is not that hot. H It's 31 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 2: not that hot for some of the places that I 32 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 2: have lived. It was unusually hot for the places that 33 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 2: we are talking about in the time that those temperatures 34 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 2: were happening. It's not a contest. We do not need 35 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 2: to one up each other over the weather we have endured. 36 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: And our first historical heat wave was not just heat wave. 37 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: It was part of a massive severe drought that affected 38 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: much of central Europe as well as northern Italy. Perhaps surprisingly, 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: this was during the period of regional cooling known as 40 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: the Little Ice Age, during which parts of the world, 41 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: including parts of Europe, generally saw cooler, wetter weather, including 42 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: the expansion of glaciers. Depending on the source and what 43 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: criteria they're using to define it, the Little Ice Age 44 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: lasted from about fifteen hundred to eighteen fifty, or from 45 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: the end of the medieval warming period, so from about 46 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: thirteen hundred to eighteen fifty. 47 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, the Little Ice Age was complicated, though. I feel 48 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 2: like even twenty years ago it was kind of being 49 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 2: described as this global period of cooling, but it really 50 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 2: did not mean that the whole world, or even just 51 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 2: all of Europe, was consistently colder. It would be more 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 2: accurate to say that a lot of the world saw 53 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 2: more variable and sometimes more extreme weather overall in multiple 54 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 2: directions during the Little Ice Age. In some areas, the 55 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 2: cooler weather was accompanied by periods of drought rather than 56 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 2: being wetter, But in central Europe and northern Italy the 57 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 2: weather was both warmer and drier, particularly from fifteen thirty 58 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 2: one to fifteen forty. There were multiple summer droughts during 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 2: those ten years. An intense period of drought started in 60 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 2: February of fifteen forty and it lasted for about eleven months. 61 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: There are hundreds of written accounts of the weather and 62 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 2: its effects during that year, but since they're overwhelmingly written 63 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 2: in other languages, we're not going to try to read 64 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 2: directly from them. In part of the affected regions. Surviving 65 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 2: accounts from fifteen forty describe no rain at all or 66 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 2: negligible rain for weeks or even months at a time. 67 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: Water became scarce as Wells and springs dried up, and 68 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: water levels fell in lakes, rivers, and streams. Accounts from 69 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: all over Central Europe describe the ground becoming desiccated. 70 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 2: This lack of water had far reaching effects. Of course, 71 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: there were crop failures and trees and other plants lost 72 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 2: all of their leaves. Livestock had to be driven a 73 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 2: lot farther to find water sources that weren't totally depleted, 74 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 2: and there were shortages of fodder to feed those animals 75 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 2: because the fodder crops failed. So all of that contributed 76 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 2: to a lot of livestock deaths. 77 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: Water was also a major source of power, with rivers 78 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,159 Speaker 1: powering water wheels that were used to mill grain. Without 79 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: enough water in the rivers, people turned to mills that 80 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: were powered by horses, but those horses also needed food 81 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: and water and could become overheated as they worked. People 82 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: could grind grain for their own use using hand mills, 83 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: but that wasn't really something that worked at large scale, 84 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: especially with people facing the same heat and water shortages 85 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: that these stock animals were. Rivers were also a major 86 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: transportation route for people and goods, and in a lot 87 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: of areas that whole transportation system just shut down. 88 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 2: While the drought led a lot of crops to die 89 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 2: in the fields. In some parts of Europe, fifteen forty 90 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 2: became an exceptionally good wine. Here, a lot of vineyards 91 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 2: tried to adjust their harvest based on the weather conditions. 92 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 2: They either harvested early or they left fruit on the 93 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 2: vine later than normal, hoping that another rainfall would come 94 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 2: and would make the fruit juicier. At some vineyards around 95 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 2: the Alsace region, the harvest was partial because some of 96 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 2: the grapes had basically dried into raisins and just couldn't 97 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 2: be salvaged. In places that delayed the harvest but did 98 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,799 Speaker 2: wind up with harvestable fruit, the resulting overly mature grapes 99 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 2: turned into a wine that was very sweet, and fifteen 100 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 2: forty wound up being described as a millennium vintage. It's 101 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 2: likely that the lack of water contributed to the spread 102 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 2: of illness. People did not have enough water to wash 103 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 2: themselves or their environments. Some places actually banned doing laundry. 104 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 2: During the driest weeks as wells dried up. People got 105 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 2: water from sources that were likely to be contaminated, including 106 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 2: rivers that had become sluggish and stagnant. The lack of 107 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 2: rain meant that contaminants that would have been washed away 108 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 2: or at least diluted in a typical year, stayed around. 109 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 2: There was an epidemic of dysentery, and it is possible 110 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 2: that as many as half a million people in Europe 111 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 2: died of disease during this period, Much of it spread 112 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 2: through Contaminated water was also a serious problem. In July, 113 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 2: Martin Luther wrote a letter to his wife about forest 114 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 2: fires in Germany that had burned at that time more 115 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 2: than one thousand acres, and he thought that would probably 116 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 2: make timber more expensive. There were also forest fires in 117 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 2: the Voges Mountains in eastern France and in Hungary and Poland. 118 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 2: Fires also struck villages and towns, and some of them 119 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 2: burned down entire communities. That included Einbeck in central Germany, 120 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 2: which was entirely destroyed on July twenty sixth fifteen. Forty 121 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 2: hundreds of people were killed in that fire. Estimates range 122 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 2: from one hundred to five hundred, especially in towns and villages. 123 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 2: This spike in fires led to accusations of arson, and 124 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 2: at least some of those accusations were connected to the 125 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 2: changes that European societies were going through in the sixteenth century. 126 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 2: The start of the Protestant Reformation is generally marked as 127 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 2: Martin Luther posting his ninety five theses at the Castle 128 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 2: Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October thirty first, fifteen seventeen. 129 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 2: Conflict between Protestants and Catholics was ongoing in fifteen forty 130 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 2: and in Germany, Duke Einrich the Younger was accused of 131 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 2: hiring arsonists to burn down Protestant communities in other areas, 132 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 2: and a Baptists, who were facing religious persecution were the 133 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 2: ones who were blamed for starting the fires. Most of 134 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 2: these fires were probably accidental and just a byproduct of 135 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 2: how dry everything was and how little water there was 136 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 2: to fight them. There are lots of written records describing 137 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 2: the lack of water, the crop failures, illnesses, and fires 138 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 2: in fifteen forty, and there are written descriptions of the heat. 139 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 2: Another letter from Martin Luther to his wife that summer 140 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 2: describes the heat as unspeakable and unrelenting, and reads as 141 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 2: though he is praying for the last day, meaning judgment day, 142 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 2: so that that heat will be over. But we don't 143 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 2: have anyone's first. 144 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: Hand accounts of the actual temperature because modern thermometers did 145 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: not exist yet. 146 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 2: The earliest known thermometer like device was described by Philo 147 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 2: of Byzantium in the third century BCE. This was a 148 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 2: hollow lead bulb attached to a tube, with the end 149 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 2: of the tube submerged in water. When the bulb was heated, 150 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 2: the air in it would expand and bubbles would come 151 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 2: out of the end of the tube. 152 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: Through the water. 153 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 2: When the bulb cooled down, water would then be drawn 154 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 2: up into the tube from the vessel. But there was 155 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 2: not any kind of a scale attached to this. It 156 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 2: was just a way to illustrate that the volume of 157 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 2: air expands when it's heated and contracts when it cools, 158 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 2: and then that corresponds to changes in temperature. It was 159 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 2: not a precise method of measuring air temperature by any stretch. 160 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: So while we do have lots of general descriptions of 161 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: what life was like, we don't have exact numbers of 162 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: how hot the summer of fifteen forty was in Central Europe. 163 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 1: Our knowledge of that comes from proxy data things like 164 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: ice cores, tree rings, and pollen samples, combined with modeling techniques. 165 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: But even with those sources of data, there is debate 166 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,199 Speaker 1: about exactly how high the temperatures reached during this event, 167 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: specifically whether they were higher or lower than more modern 168 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: day temperature records. 169 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 2: A frequently used benchmark in a lot of writings about 170 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 2: this is the summer of two thousand and three, which 171 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 2: when it happened was described as the hottest summer in 172 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 2: parts of Europe in five hundred years. Different researchers have 173 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 2: concluded that the summer of fifteen forty was either below 174 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 2: or above the high temperatures that were recorded in the 175 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 2: summer of two thousand and three. Sort of depends on 176 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 2: exactly how they're modeling. Some researchers have also noted that 177 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 2: the summer of fifteen forty was so extreme that typical 178 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 2: climate models can't really replicate it without changing the parameters 179 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,319 Speaker 2: in a way that go way beyond other known extreme 180 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 2: weather events. It is also difficult to determine how many 181 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,560 Speaker 2: people died or became disabled as a result of this 182 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 2: heat wave and drought, but it seems like the regions 183 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 2: that were affected recovered fairly quickly after it subsided, in 184 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 2: part because people already preferred to grow crops that could 185 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 2: be drought tolerant, So once the weather started to cool 186 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,959 Speaker 2: and new crops were planted and water levels returned toward normal, 187 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 2: people were able to grow, harvest, and mill much like 188 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 2: they could before. We'll move on to another heat wave 189 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 2: after a sponsor break. Our next heat wave took place 190 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 2: in the UK and western Europe in seventeen fifty seven. 191 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 2: By that point there were thermometers that could be used 192 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 2: to more precisely measure the temperature. This built on the 193 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,559 Speaker 2: work of Philo of Byzantium. It's believed that Galileo developed 194 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 2: a thermoscope that was somewhat similar to Pelos in the 195 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 2: early sixteen hundreds. Other seventeenth century scholars did this as well, 196 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 2: and some also developed a calibration system for their thermoscopes 197 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 2: to approximate some kind of measurement. One was Italian physiologist 198 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 2: Santorio Centorio, who made a thermoscope that was designed to 199 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 2: go in the mouth. He could then use that to 200 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 2: measure a person's body temperature. Physician and instrument maker Gabriel 201 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 2: Fahrenheit developed the mercury in glass thermometer in seventeen fourteen, 202 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 2: and he developed his Fahrenheit temperature scale ten years later. 203 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 2: Swedish astronomer and physicist Under Celsius and others started at 204 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 2: advocating for an internationally recognized temperature scale in the seventeen forties, 205 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 2: leading to the Celsius or Centigrade scale. Celsius is often 206 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 2: credited with inventing this scale, but his original seventeen forty 207 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 2: two version placed the freezing point of water at one 208 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 2: hundred degrees and the boiling point at zero, so opposite 209 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 2: of how we know it today. Others flipped those values 210 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 2: so that the boiling point was one hundred and made 211 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,319 Speaker 2: mercury thermometers that were calibrated to that scale. Yeah, it's 212 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 2: not fully clear whether some of the people who were 213 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 2: writing about temperature measurement around this time were working from 214 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 2: Celsius's work or if they independently arrived at the idea 215 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,400 Speaker 2: of a scale that goes from the boiling point to 216 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 2: the freezing point of water. Right, it could be either one. 217 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: While we have more. 218 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,079 Speaker 2: Specific information about how hot it was in the summer 219 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 2: of seventeen fifty seven. That information is still somewhat sparac 220 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 2: Attic mercury thermometers and the fahrenheit and Celsius scales were 221 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 2: obviously very new, and it was new enough that a 222 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 2: lot of the English language writing about this heat wave 223 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 2: does not just say that people were using a thermometer. 224 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 2: They all say fahrenheit's thermometer Specifically. People understood that they 225 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 2: would get the most accurate readings on this thermometer if 226 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 2: it was in the shade rather than in direct sunlight. 227 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: But it's not always. 228 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 2: Clear how well people protected their thermometer from the sun, 229 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 2: or whether their readings were inflated because the thermometer was 230 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 2: not adequately protected, or maybe was very close to something 231 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 2: that was getting more direct sunlight. 232 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 1: There was also no way to continuously record the temperature. 233 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: People had to look at the thermometer and write it down. 234 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: Some of the people who wrote about the heat in 235 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: July of seventeen fifty seven noted that they took their 236 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: measurement at three in the afternoon. That was probably during 237 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: the hottest part of the but it's not possible to 238 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: know whether it got hotter before or after someone took 239 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: their measurement. Regular reliable official temperature records didn't start in 240 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: much of the world until the mid to late nineteenth century. 241 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: A lot of the written documentation of the fifteen forty 242 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: drought and heat wave is in the form of personal 243 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: and business letters, diaries, chronicles, and, in the case of 244 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: those arson allegations, court records. By the eighteenth century, though, 245 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: the European scientific community had started establishing scientific journals. The 246 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: first was Philosophical Transactions, which was established in March of 247 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty five by Henry Oldenberg, who was Secretary of 248 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: the Royal Society. Philosophical Transactions documented the Royal Society's activities, 249 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: including letters and papers that were read before Royal Society meetings. 250 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: Some of these letters were between John Hucksam and William Watson, 251 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: who were both medical doss and Royal Society fellows. Huxham 252 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: wrote to Watson on July nineteenth, seventeen fifty seven, saying, 253 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: in part quote, from the seventh to the fourteenth of 254 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: this month, the heat was violent, greater indeed than has 255 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: been known here in the memory of man. I have 256 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: talked with several persons who have lived considerable time in Jamaica, Gibraltar, 257 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: and Minorca, and they generally assert that they never felt 258 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: such intense heat in any of those places. Huxham went 259 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: on to say that in the Shade, Fahrenheit's thermometer read 260 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: eighty seven degrees at three in the afternoon on the 261 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: eleventh and thirteenth of July, and that it was above 262 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: eighty eight on the twelfth. That's about thirty point five 263 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: and thirty one point one degrees celsius. Huxham continued, quote, 264 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: abundance of people have suffered very feverishly from these excessive heats. Putrid, bilious, 265 00:16:53,960 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: particial nervous fevers are exceedingly common everywhere. Dysenteries, hemorrhages at 266 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: most profuse sweats affect not only those in fevers, but 267 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: of vast many others. He described both the days and 268 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: the nights as intolerably hot, with people unable to sleep, 269 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: and the wind even blowing hot so that it brought 270 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: no relief. This publication in Philosophical Transactions also included a 271 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,159 Speaker 1: note from Watson with a table of temperatures recorded in 272 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: Plymouth using Fahrenheit's thermometer. The temperatures were in the eighties 273 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 1: from July tenth to fifteenth, with a peak of eighty 274 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: five on July fourteenth. That's about twenty nine point four 275 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 1: degrees celsius. 276 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, the temperatures that people would have been expecting in 277 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:44,919 Speaker 2: these areas at this point would have been more in 278 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 2: the high seventies. On July twelfth, past podcast subject Horace 279 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 2: Walpole wrote a letter to his friend John Shoot about 280 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,880 Speaker 2: his willingness to visit Shoot at his estate in Hampshire 281 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,199 Speaker 2: known as the Vine. Quote, I say nothing of the 282 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 2: heat of this magnificent weather, with the glass yesterday up 283 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:08,360 Speaker 2: to three quarters of sultry. In all English probability, this 284 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 2: will not be a hindrance long though at present so 285 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 2: far from traveling. I have made the tour of my 286 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,440 Speaker 2: own garden, but once these three days before eight at night, 287 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 2: and then I thought I should have died of it. 288 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 2: For how many years we shall have to talk of 289 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 2: the summer of fifty seven. 290 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: A few days later, on the sixteenth, Walpole wrote a 291 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,640 Speaker 1: letter to George Montague saying, quote, the weather has been 292 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: so hot, and we are so unused to it that 293 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,360 Speaker 1: nobody knew how to behave themselves. Even mister Bentley has 294 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: done shivering. That was writer Richard Bentley, who was part 295 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: of Walpole's Committee of Taste along with Shoot. A letter 296 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: Walpole sent to Shoot ten days later described Bentley as 297 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: suffering from sweating sickness quote, which I now firmly believe 298 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: was only a hot summer like this, and England, being 299 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: so unused to it, took it for a melody. The 300 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 1: heat returned that August, and John Huxam wrote to William 301 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:10,920 Speaker 1: Watson again. This letter was also published in Philosophical Transactions. 302 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: This time Huxam said that his thermometer read almost eighty 303 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: six degrees or thirty celsius from August eighth through the tenth. 304 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: This time, he wrote, quote, the consequences of this extremely 305 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: hot season were hemorrhages from several parts of the body, 306 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: the nose, especially in men and children, and the uterus 307 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:35,200 Speaker 1: in women. Sudden and violent pains of the head and vertigo, 308 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: profuse sweats, great debility and oppression of the spirits affected many. 309 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: There were putrid fevers in great abundance, and a vast 310 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: quantity of fluxes of the belly, both bilious and bloody, 311 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: with which the fevers also were commonly attended. Husam described 312 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: these fevers as accompanied by severe pains in the back 313 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: and stomach, vomiting, chest pain, anxiety, and an inability to sleep. 314 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,199 Speaker 1: At this point, medicine in Europe was still largely dominated 315 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: by the idea of the four humors, and from there 316 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:12,919 Speaker 1: he describes the quality of the pulse in people who 317 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 1: were affected and their blood which was quote oftentimes florid, 318 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: but loose, sometimes livid, very rarely fizzy. He thought blood 319 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: letting was always beneficial, especially if it was done early 320 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: in people who developed this heat related fever. It seems 321 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,959 Speaker 1: as though the weather was milder off the southern coast 322 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: of the UK. John Smeaton also wrote a letter that 323 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 1: was read before the Royal Society about conditions at Eddystone Lighthouse, 324 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: south of Plymouth. He said that the weather had been 325 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: very moderate there in July, sometimes even cold for the season. 326 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 2: I read this letter as like weirdly braggy and doubting 327 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 2: the accuracy of other people's reports of intense, un terrible heat. 328 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: Gosh, it's terrific here. We actually need to wear sweaters. 329 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: Scottish physician James Lynde, who is most well known for 330 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,640 Speaker 1: his recommendation that citrus could be used to prevent scurvy 331 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: in Sailors published an Essay on the Most Effectual Means 332 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: of Preserving the Health of Seamen in the Royal Navy 333 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty four. A section of its appendix is 334 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: called Comparative Degrees of Heat and Cold in different latitudes, 335 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: and among other things, it describes typical temperatures in Edinburgh 336 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: and what it was like in the summer of seventeen 337 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: fifty seven. He wrote quote in the warmest weather in June, 338 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: July and August, the mercury was commonly at seventy in 339 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: the middle of the day and sixty four in the night. 340 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: But during uncommon heats it has risen to seventy three 341 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: and seventy five, perhaps once or twice in a year, 342 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: and sometimes not in two years. The greatest heat observed 343 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 1: by the instrument there was on the twelfth July seventeen 344 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,160 Speaker 1: fifty seven, when in the middle of the day and 345 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: well shaded, it mounted to eighty degrees. The heat was 346 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: then quite stifling. Seventy degrees fahrenheit is about twenty one 347 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: point one degree celsius, seventy five is about twenty three 348 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: point eight, and eighty fahrenheit is roughly twenty six point 349 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: six degrees celsius. Temperatures spiked in France in the summer 350 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: of seventeen fifty seven as well, with a recorded high 351 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: of ninety nine point five degrees fahrenheit or thirty seven 352 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: point five celsius that was reported in Paris on July fourteenth. 353 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: But beyond the general description repeated in a lot of 354 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: places of the hottest summer since fifteen forty, I just 355 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: did not find a lot of specific information about the 356 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: heat wave's death toll or other effects. It does seem 357 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,880 Speaker 1: like on average, temperatures in Europe started to cool after 358 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,199 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty seven, and that cooling trend cantinued until just 359 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: after the start of the twentieth century. One model shows 360 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: nineteen oh two as the coolest European summer in the 361 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: last five hundred years. But then, of course things really 362 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,880 Speaker 1: started to heat up again, and we will talk about 363 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: some of that heat after we pause for a sponsor break. 364 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 2: Our last heat wave today is more recent than what 365 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 2: we typically talk about on the show. When I started 366 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 2: working on this episode, my whole plan was for it 367 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 2: to be only about the July heat wave of seventeen 368 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 2: fifty seven and then I realized I just did not 369 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 2: have enough information to do a whole episode only on that. 370 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 2: But that summer is usually described as the hottest one 371 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 2: from fifteen forty to two thousand and three. Sometimes fifteen 372 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 2: forty and two thousand and three are presented almost like 373 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 2: brackets around the summer of seventeen fifty seven. So once 374 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 2: I decided to talk about fifteen forty, it made sense 375 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 2: to talk about that more recent one as well. And 376 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 2: there is of course way more data about the two 377 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 2: thousand and three heat wave than the other two that 378 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 2: we've talked about today. Thanks to a massive network of 379 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,679 Speaker 2: weather monitoring stations and the ability to process and evaluate data, 380 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 2: we know that the summer of two thousand and three 381 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 2: saw temperatures in Europe that were often between twenty and 382 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 2: thirty percent higher than average. Overnight temperatures were often higher 383 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 2: than the typical high during the day, and these conditions 384 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 2: lasted from June to mid August. The highest recorded temperature 385 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 2: in the UK during this heat wave was thirty eight 386 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 2: point one celsius or one hundred point fifty eight fahrenheit, 387 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 2: and that was at the time the highest temperature ever 388 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,439 Speaker 2: recorded in the UK. Switzerland set a record of forty 389 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 2: one points five celsius or one hundred and six point 390 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 2: seven fahrenheit. Temperatures in central and western Europe were around 391 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,119 Speaker 2: thirty five to forty degrees celsius or ninety five to 392 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 2: one hundred and four fahrenheit repeatedly over the course of 393 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:19,360 Speaker 2: this heat wave. According to the UN Environment Program, this 394 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 2: heat wave was Europe's worst natural disaster in fifty years, 395 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 2: and one of the ten deadliest over the previous century. 396 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,399 Speaker 2: Its Environment Alert bulletin about the heat wave estimated that 397 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 2: the death hole would be more than thirty thousand people. 398 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 2: There were more than fourteen thousand deaths in France alone, 399 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 2: disproportionately in Paris. Many of the people who died were elderly, 400 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 2: and the most vulnerable group in France was elderly women 401 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 2: who were living alone. So many people died in France 402 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 2: that temporary morgues had to be set up using refrigerated trucks. 403 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 2: Some other sources report even higher numbers for the total 404 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 2: death hole, as many as seventy thousand across Europe. A 405 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,400 Speaker 2: major factor was the fact that a lot of homes 406 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 2: and public buildings in this part of Europe are not 407 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 2: air conditioned. Especially if they're historic structures rather than newly built. 408 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 2: So before anybody gets on their high horse about air 409 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 2: conditioning discourse, which there has been a lot of this summer, 410 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,919 Speaker 2: a lot of it with Americans making it sound like 411 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 2: we're superior because of our very prevalent air conditioning. Heat 412 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,640 Speaker 2: waves are a significant cause of death, especially in elderly 413 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 2: people in the United States too. Those deaths disproportionately affect 414 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 2: the most vulnerable people. Extreme heat causes more fatalities on 415 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 2: average than any other type of weather in the United States, 416 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 2: and those numbers in the US are rising, not falling. 417 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 2: But after the two thousand and three heat wave, which 418 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 2: was so devastating in France, the French government established an 419 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,400 Speaker 2: emergency plan for extreme heat events, which include providing cooling 420 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 2: spaces and water checking on vulnerable people, and there's also 421 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 2: been ongoing work to plant more trees and provide more 422 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 2: shade in public places, and to get more air conditioning installed, 423 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 2: including in medical facilities. More broadly, France is legally bound 424 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,480 Speaker 2: to reach carbon neutrality by twenty fifty, which is of 425 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,879 Speaker 2: course part of the effort to slow the rate of 426 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 2: global warming. So the number of heat related deaths in 427 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 2: France has been much smaller in heat waves that have 428 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 2: taken place since two thousand and three and since these 429 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,880 Speaker 2: plans were created. In addition to the deaths that were 430 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 2: directly related to the heat, another major cause of death 431 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 2: in some parts of Europe during the two thousand and 432 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,159 Speaker 2: three heat wave was drowning. This has been true in 433 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 2: other heat waves as well. Authorities in Germany reported that 434 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 2: nearly one hundred people drowned in June of twenty twenty six, 435 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 2: while France reported forty deaths from drowning in that heat wave. 436 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 2: Official in both countries compared that number to the number 437 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,199 Speaker 2: of people who had drowned during the heat wave of 438 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,679 Speaker 2: two thousand and three. Yeah, there was a lot of 439 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 2: We have not seen numbers like this since two thousand 440 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 2: and three. Unlike the people who were most at risk 441 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 2: of like direct heat related causes, who tended to be 442 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 2: older people, a lot of the people who drowned were 443 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 2: young people, especially boys and young men, who of course 444 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 2: were just trying to cool off. The heat wave and 445 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 2: the drought that it was part of in two thousand 446 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,879 Speaker 2: and three also of course affected agriculture and industry, and 447 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 2: a lot of that was really similar to what we 448 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 2: talked about happening back in fifteen forty. Central Europe faced 449 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 2: fodder shortages as those crops were depleted. Production also dropped 450 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 2: for poultry and potatoes and grains. Forest fires were widespread 451 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 2: and they were exacerbated by the dry conditions and water 452 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 2: stress on the trees. There were more than twenty thousand 453 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 2: fires across the affected parts of Europe and that burned 454 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 2: almost six hundred and fifty thousand hectares of forest. According 455 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,959 Speaker 2: to the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Alpine glaciers decreased by 456 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 2: up to ten percent in two thousand and three. Thawing 457 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 2: in mountainous areas also destabilized the landscape and that led 458 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 2: to landslides and rock slides. We talked about how the 459 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 2: fifteen forty drought affected things like grain mills, which were 460 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 2: powered by water wheels, although fewer industries are powered in 461 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 2: this way today. Water is critical to the production of electricity, 462 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 2: both through hydropower plants and in providing cooling for the 463 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 2: other types of power plants. In France, some nuclear reactors 464 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 2: had to be shut down in two thousand and three 465 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 2: because there wasn't enough water available to cool them, and 466 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 2: others had to keep running even though the temperature of 467 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 2: the available water exceeded safe levels. 468 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: This led to power shortages, which remained worse by the 469 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: spike in demand for things like refrigerator and air conditioning. 470 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: As we said earlier, there's some debate about whether the 471 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: two thousand three heat wave and drought were worse than 472 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: the one in fifteen forty. I read multiple papers on 473 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: this when preparing this episode. We do know, however, that 474 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: subsequent years have been hotter than two thousand and three. 475 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: Was The UK record from the two thousand and three 476 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: heat wave was broken in twenty twenty two when temperatures 477 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: in England reached forty point three celsius or one hundred 478 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: and four point five fahrenheit. On June twenty eighth, twenty nineteen, 479 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: temperatures in France reached forty five point nine celsius or 480 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: one hundred and fourteen point six fahrenheit. That broke its 481 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: two thousand and three heat wave record by almost two 482 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: degrees celsius. This was the first time a temperature higher 483 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: than forty five celsius was ever recorded in France. According 484 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: to the World Meteorological Association, the last eleven years have 485 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: been the eleven warmest years on record, and June of 486 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, which of course was part of the 487 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: inspiration for this episode, was the hottest June on record 488 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: ever in Western Europe. We will end with a passage 489 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: from John Scott from his poem written in the Hot 490 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: Weather July seventeen fifty seven. This was published in his 491 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty four Elegies Descriptive and Moral, And this is 492 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: from the end of the poem, when the heat wave 493 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,719 Speaker 1: is about to break even now behold the grateful change 494 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: at hand. Hark in the east. Loud, blustering gales arise 495 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: wide and more wide. The darkening clouds expand, and distant 496 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: lightnings slash along the skies. Oh, in the awful concert 497 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: of the storm, while hail and rain, and wind and 498 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: thunder join. Let the great rulers praise my song in form. 499 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: Let wonder, reverence, gratitude be mine. 500 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 2: I picked that part from the whole poem because it's 501 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 2: the part that has a sense of relief from the 502 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 2: heat coming, and that is three historic heat waves. Do 503 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 2: you have a sense of listener mail coming? I do 504 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 2: have some listener mail. This listener mail is from Katie. 505 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 2: Katie wrote after we talked about the Bunker Hill monument 506 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 2: and the Battle of Bunker Hill, and said, hello, ladies, 507 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 2: I just listened to your Bunker Hill episode and was 508 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 2: so happy that you said Bill Ricca correctly. I've been 509 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,560 Speaker 2: waiting for the perfect moment to send a note to you, 510 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 2: and this was perfect. I grew up in Boston and 511 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 2: have always been a revolutionary war nerd maybe not by 512 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 2: choice but by environment. Anyways, with all that is happening 513 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 2: with the country, I have to say it makes it 514 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 2: hard for me to be excited for the two fiftieth. 515 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 2: When I saw this episode, I said, yay Boston, and 516 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 2: I think listening to pods like yours and being conscious 517 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 2: of how I am acknowledging the two fiftieth is the 518 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 2: way to go. So current plan for the fourth listening 519 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 2: to Hamilton, making a green reflecting pool cocktail and making 520 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 2: crafts that incorporate my new mantra, crush garlic and the patriarchy. 521 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 2: For my pet tax I present to you my two boys, 522 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 2: Maverick Cat and Fetucini Snake. Maverick is a wild goblin 523 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 2: that shreds my boxes and my sanity, but redeems himself 524 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 2: with very good snuggles Fetichini. My yellow noodle is a 525 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 2: ball python and much more of a laid back little guy. 526 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 2: Maverick would love to be friends, but my tank is 527 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 2: incredibly catproof. Thank you for being the best moral compass 528 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 2: and saying what I'm thinking about the state of things. 529 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 2: And then we have just some adorable animal pictures. 530 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: I love a ball python. I think they have the 531 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 1: cutest faces. Yeah, yeah, they just look sort of sweet. 532 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 2: There are a lot of snakes that have very cute faces, 533 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 2: and I have recently this doesn't have anything to do 534 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 2: with the episode or even the email. I have recently 535 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,959 Speaker 2: learned that there are people who work in areas that 536 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 2: have a lot of venomous snakes to help train dogs 537 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 2: to detect and avoid those snakes, And so they put 538 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:17,879 Speaker 2: a little muzzle on the rattlesnake. It's a very soft thing. 539 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 2: The snake can still drink, still use their tongue, but 540 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 2: they cannot open their mouth enough for their fangs to 541 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 2: pop out. Gotcha. So then that way the dog can 542 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,840 Speaker 2: smell and see and react to the snake without either 543 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,799 Speaker 2: of them being in danger. And then people who do 544 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 2: this in a reputable way also only do this for 545 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,600 Speaker 2: a limited amount of time so that they're not stressing 546 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 2: the snake out too much, right, and then the dogs 547 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 2: learn not to go snifit that thing and then get 548 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 2: bitten on the nose and you're at the veterinary emergency 549 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 2: room to get snake bite treatment. Anyway, I have to say, 550 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 2: Fetacini is a brilliant name. It's a great name. And 551 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 2: now has anyone ever named. 552 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: A snake Alfredo Lingui maybe to get a little a 553 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: little ratitude reference in maybe thinking about it. 554 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 2: And then we do also have a picture of this 555 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,560 Speaker 2: craft project of crush some garlic and the patriarchy. 556 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: I love it. 557 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Katie. If you would like to 558 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 2: send us a note where at History podcast at iHeartRadio 559 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 2: dot com, if you would like to find the show 560 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,839 Speaker 2: notes to our episodes where you can read all of 561 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 2: the research that I use to prepare this. That is 562 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 2: at our website which is Missed Inhistory dot com. And 563 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 2: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app 564 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 2: or anywhere else you like to get your podcasts. 565 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:45,759 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in. 566 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 2: History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts 567 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 2: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever 568 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 2: you listen to your favorite shows.