Summer heat in Budapest -- Getting worse each year?

Tell Your friend that the sure cure for his be-moanment is to spend a summer in Dubai and experience the 40c Heat then he might enjoy the Summer in Budapest

Sumarokov wrote:

Hi. I have friends in the US who were telling me that one of the reasons why they gave up their apartment in Budapest was that the summers were getting increasingly unbearable because of the heat, which they felt was getting worse with each passing year. Does any long-timer here fancy chiming in? Which is closest to the truth?

It's not really hot here at all. Like the other poster says, try Dubai.  If you live in a small apartment with no ventilation then it could be intolerable. But that's not really anything special. It's in no way any warmer in the summer than it was in any other years.  Not that I've noticed anyway. 

I would however say that it's been quite mild so far for a winter.  Mrs Fluffy said the birds left late which usually means it'll be a short winter.

This summer 2015, Bp saw a stretch of maybe 3 weeks of just under 40C end July and most of August. However, I recall 2012 as a year of 'extremes', when said summer period was well above 40C, and spring was so hot as to make me photograph on 30th April (!) a public outdoor thermometer displaying 40C. Winter 2011/2012 on the other hand saw ice float on the Duna river for most of February. And this current mid-November week was -5C back then, rather than the cosy +15C displayed on that same thermometer yesterday.

I learned that the temperature on Martin's day (11th Nov saw +17C) is of opposite sign to what to expect for Christmas.

To my experience there's not much middle ground here, temperatures change quite 'suddenly' from winter to summer or reverse in the space of maybe 2-3 weeks.

Speaking scientifically, I'd say "No, it's not getting worse each year". It's still within statistical fluctuation.

Please realise that humankind lives within an extremely narrow window of conditions. To get this straight, 20C is not twice as warm as 10C. :-) Temperature must be seen in Kelvin degrees, so we're talking of a range between roughly 273K and 310K, ie, freezing point of water and body temperature, respectively. As you see the swing is only 12-13%. Either 'extreme' already makes us feel uncomfortable, or is unbearable without protection. Nature however wouldn't have any problem ramping up temperature by a few 100K. For example creatures living on Venus would have to put up with lead being liquid.

I don't wish to engage in futile debate on the Greenhouse effect (plants would do just fine in a CO2 atmosphere). Common sense simply should tell us that it can't be good to tarmac over the planet's surface within just 100 years, or to strip in the same period the Brazilian and Siberian forests, or to burn in the same period fossil fuels that took millions of years to form, or to raid the sea of all fish. More than anything else we should become aware of the collective damage we do to our 'Home'. Question is what will arrive sooner, the financial collapse, the world's new disorder, or the environmental collapse.

jurgen_in_bp wrote:

To my experience there's not much middle ground here, temperatures change quite 'suddenly' from winter to summer or reverse in the space of maybe 2-3 weeks.

Speaking scientifically, I'd say "No, it's not getting worse each year". It's still within statistical fluctuation.

Agreed.  The timeframes for change have to be looked at over 100s of years.  There will always be specific instances brought up of extreme variation of temperatures. People will note it was hotter or colder in a particular year but these outliers are just statisical blips in the big picture.  I can remember being out in the mid-90s around Budapest with my bike in a T-shirt with Mrs Fluffy in early February.  It was about 20 C.

As for climate change, technology changes will inevitably come up with something so long as governments allow that push forward. An oil crisis or war in the Middle East disrupted supplies is more likely to deliver investment in alternative sources/technology that any individual pressure group.

Hard to say exactly which is worst to live in a flat that is humid for a few weeks out of the year or to live in a dry desert which gets as high as 115 F. for months on end but has central A/C which costs a small fortune to run 24/7.
I lived in Las Vegas for over 14 years straight and often had no A/C in my car, never bothered me as it was a dry heat and I ran my errands in the mornings. A/C on all the time is really unhealthy.
Going from super hot to super cold shops all the time and working in cold A/C buildings just gave us summer colds.
I had broncitis from being indoors all the time and breathing in stale air.
In Hungary if you are not working you can spend time at the pool, sorry for those who still have to dress up and work while dealing with the humid summer months or really just summer weeks in
Hungary.
The nice thing about summers in HU is even when it seems like the heat is too much a nice summer storm will move in a clean the air and cool things down.
A few flats in our building have A/C units but in general we don't need one. Fans and airing out the flat in the early morning usually keep it cool until evening when you can open up the windows again.The old brick buildings are great for keeping the rooms hot and cold, the panel houses are not that well made.
Not sure where your friends moved to in the US but most states are either very humid or very dry and hot in summer. The only place to be in summer is Hawaii where we used to live, as soon as the heat comes a nice breeze moves in from the tropics. Homes do not have either A/C or heating put in, no need as it is always perfect.( Don't ask why we left there, I am wondering about that myself!)
My husband says when he was young in Budapest the Danube would freeze solid. The summers were not as hot either as they are now.
No one had A/C in Hungary during the 50's and 60's and they all survived somehow. Of course back then the public spas were affordable to almost everyone not just the wealthy. I remember visiting several different pools and spas in HU in the fall and even then they were so crowded that one could only cool off and not really swim. This was in the 1970's. Now the prices are often more to enter then 2 people make working full time in Hungary  for a day with an average salary. Who can afford to take their families to a spa these days when entries are so high? I went a few times to a spa this past summer and noticed everyone was not Hungarian. Only tourists can afford what the Hungarians built. No one can work all day long just to afford a swim.
No issue for us but I have always believed everyone should be able to afford a nice swim in the summer without going into debt to do so.
8,000 forints and more for one person is more then many people take home in a day, how can a family of 4 afford to visit a spa these days in Budapest? It has changed so much, it's all for the wealthy or the tourist.