Hi fellow Redditors, my name is Maarten, a climate reporter from the Dutch national newspaper Trouw (www.trouw.nl). For a new project, I'm interviewing people that experienced severe heat in the summer of 2024. I'm really curious about stories from Bulgaria! Please tell me about the heat in your country in the comments, or drop me a personal message if you would be open to a short phone / video interview.
Благодаря много предварително!
by geeest
24 comments
Grandma teeth
I started using the sauna on a daily basis for the past 2 years. As long as I have water (warm or cold) and some sunscreen I feel no different. As long as I can remember (born in 98) it has been ~42 degrees Celsius in the summer.
That doesn’t mean I don’t use my AC 24/7 for 2 months straight.
Water .
That’s bout it I go through couple liters of water when I’m outside .
No AC and home.so I just suffer xd
I would say it’s similar to the way it is in other countries. Although it has been quite bad this week with every day a new report about some place catching fire.
However, some of those fires might not be as naturally occurring.
Aside from that blessed are the ones who have air conditioning and for those of us that don’t fans do help. City hall is calling for being more conservative with water usage. Not to waste it on lawns.
It certainly has been getting hotter with every consecutive year. To the point I’m wondering if I can actually grow citrus trees as opposed to the more normal fruit trees in my yard. I think I’ll cope better with the grim specter of climate change if that means I can grow my own avocadoes, lol. Also I have a personal sauna now – my car after 8 hours on the parking lot while I’m at work.
I don’t think that the heat is that much different. We have seen temperatures like that before. It’s just earlier and for longer periods of time.
The AC at home is on 24/7. Our office is also air conditioned and they keep the temperature at around 22-24 deg. Good thing is that I have home office, so I stay at home as much as possible between 11-16.
When we moved here from the UK we noted that the locals closed their curtains and blinds during the summer, we vowed never to do that, but here I am typing this with every blind closed in the house!
You can hide away from the heat during the day, but there is one big consequence of the heat now and that is the restrictions on water.
Where we are in SE Bulgaria, there are serious problems with water, we now have days when we have no water at all in the house and other days when it is just a trickle.
We are having to fill bottles from the village well.
This last week or so we are having to start worrying about another thing, fire, everything is so dry, fires are springing up and some are serious.
With the ever increasing heat I don’t think things are going to get much better.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions
Grandmother’s teeth
What’s there to cope with?
It’s hot, put on shorts and a light shirt.
Summers are like that
Grandma teeth tea and a lot of taratot
I love hot weather
read an article today from capital that coal electricity is peaking during the summer with the heat waves as people are using much more AC. These peaks have only been seen in winter period and not before actually. Moreover the price of electricity at peak hours is at levels not seen before for summer periods as well – 1500BGN / 750 Euros per megawat hour.
If it’s hot outside – Grandma’s teeth, If it’s cold outside – Grandma’s teeth, if it’s normal outside – Grandma’s teeth. Always take Grandma’s teeth when you go outside or if you stay inside.
I do regular souna sessions throughout the year, regardless of the weather. The heat outside hasn’t bothered me at all yet. Only my deep sleep is significantly less per night, but still in ok levels. A male in my mid 30s, living in Sofia.
I hate journos so much it’s unreal.
Many people in Bulgaria started using ACs in the past 15 years. Otherwise, it’s a general rule for the summer to never get out after the middle of the morning until the evening. Bulgarian cities can seem almost dead in the middle of the summer heat.
People go out in the evening and spend a long time out in restaurants, with friends or in the many and massive parks in the cities. People generally carry water bottles with them.
In the villages people stay under the vines cover, wet white sheets and put them at the entries where air currents pass.
Like others said, that’s not unusual for Bulgaria. People are used to it and change their lifestyle accordingly.
I ignore the heat and drink my water. At the end of day I shower and that’s it.
These temps are unusual for you guys. We are used to the heat waves,asthey’re common and happen every year. Summers tend to be very hot and long, getting longer with global warming.
We don’t go out for most of the day and blast the AC.
In terms of summer, it’s not much hotter than previous years. Though there has been an ever increasing amount of forest fires(enhanced by the sheer stupidity of some people).
But in terms of me being a seasonal worker, it’s been absolute hell. For the past 2 weeks, the temperature hasn’t dropped below 25°C, even during the night. And even though there’s wind, you feel like you’re in a furnace the whole time.
It noticeably hotter in Sofia, but it is not that bad. Even without air conditioning. I have noticed people trying to be inside during the worst heat. And any activities requiring one to go out have been pushed to later in the evenings.
Watermelon and cheese. And AC.
Tarator!
AC at home and at work, I try to take the tram to work because it has AC. I Drink a lot of water during the day and get a cold beer on the way home.
We eat a lot of salads and less meat. Bulgarians usually consume a lot of pork but at 40 degrees pork is too heavy.
I have 2 ACs at home which are on all the time during the day, the one in my bedroom keeps running during the night as well sometimes. And I almost never go out during the day, just in the evening.