Chester Zoo Chester Zoo closing for 2 days due to heatwave
- Thread starter James Barber
- Start date
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Worth reading for the factual comparison.
UK heatwave: How do temperatures compare with 1976? UK heatwave: How do temperatures compare with 1976?
UK heatwave: How do temperatures compare with 1976? UK heatwave: How do temperatures compare with 1976?
Yes - some of us are old enough to remember it first hand. I dont recall the temperatures, being the main headline; it was the drought and lack of mains water. We had to drive to my uncles farm where there was a well and hand-pump... my father even made crates to take large coffee jars to transport it in. It was actually 2 years, not just 1976.
Yes, they put up stand-pipes in the streets but I don't think they got used. Dennis Howell was elected minister for Drought and started touring the country to assess the situation- the drought then immediately ended with heavy rain as a result. I don't remember any record breaking temps, more just the continuous sunshine and warm dry weather. I'm sure no zoos ever closed because of unusual weather(too hot or too stormy) back in those days. For a start communication was all on a completely different level with no social media /internet etc to put out such a message of closure at short notice.
Yeah, what I've found weird about the 1976 comparisons is that whenever I've heard about it before (being nearly a decade away from being born at the time), it's been a drought, not a heatwave. The 'long, dry, summer'. It seems to have become weaponised as a climate denial tool just recently.
This is a really good point actually to partially account for why it wouldn't have happened in previous decades but can now - nowadays it's vastly easier to get the message out - and even more so post-lockdowns, I would think, when social media became the sole exposure a lot of businesses had to the outside world (and vice versa) - I think it solidified a 'check before you go' attitude in many (because when checking they're open before you set off takes 5 seconds, why wouldn't you?).
This is a really good point actually to partially account for why it wouldn't have happened in previous decades but can now - nowadays it's vastly easier to get the message out - and even more so post-lockdowns, I would think, when social media became the sole exposure a lot of businesses had to the outside world (and vice versa) - I think it solidified a 'check before you go' attitude in many (because when checking they're open before you set off takes 5 seconds, why wouldn't you?).
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Indeed, not very comparable at all which is why whether zoos closed in 1976 or not doesn’t bear much on whether they are closing today. It’s exceptionally hot today and as mentioned social media and 24/7 news means it much easier to react to changes in conditions.
Its already breaking down where I live on South Coast, and Cornwall had thunderstorms this a.m. So relief may be on way for more of the country soon...
Charles
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the heads up, they probably have an odd window of time as the new Bristol zoo's improved grasslands are meant to open early 2024 so they probably don't want them to clash
Well to all the scoffers, I'm sad to report per the BBC that a dozen animals have died of heat related stress and over 300 were moved to another zoo for safe keeping in France, following a fire breaking out.
Sadly cannot provide the link but it is on the page about temperatures moving north.
Perhaps you will acknowledge there were very good reasons to close Chester, after all, and that comparisons to 1976 are wholly invalid.
That was a sustained dry period with high temperatures not a record heat wave lasting a few days but causing major issues.
I see there are large blazes outside London now. I hope all firefighters and emergency personnel are safe.
Keep healthy people and hopefully this unpleasant spell will pass soon. Probably be flash floods next as the ground will be baked solid.
Sadly cannot provide the link but it is on the page about temperatures moving north.
Perhaps you will acknowledge there were very good reasons to close Chester, after all, and that comparisons to 1976 are wholly invalid.
That was a sustained dry period with high temperatures not a record heat wave lasting a few days but causing major issues.
I see there are large blazes outside London now. I hope all firefighters and emergency personnel are safe.
Keep healthy people and hopefully this unpleasant spell will pass soon. Probably be flash floods next as the ground will be baked solid.
Of course it does - it was hot last year and in 2019 (when it was just 1 degree lower) and on many other occasions other than 1976. One of Northampton's highest records was in 1911.
Of course social media makes some communication quicker, but how is it easier to 'react to changes in conditions' for the groups of organised visits which make up the majority of zoo attendance in the last week of term..
As I said above - announcing a closure on Saturday for the following Monday (just 48 hours later) over a weekend, gives no time for any group organiser to cancel a coach and postpone or rearrange a visit. These take many, many weeks of arrangement, and are sometimes made a whole year in advance. sometimes a whole year. Just because you follow Chester on Facebook and can chose, does not help a teacher having to justify payment to the school authorities and parents for cancelling a coach that she/he cannot use. Perhaps he/she will choose somewhere else next year....
Was this at Chester?
There are already travel warnings out for tomorrow, due to thunderstorms - even though the probability of anything AT ALL, is less than 20%...
Not so far as I know, unless there has been another fire at Chester? - so again if not, not comparable, and not part of this thread...
It's at Zoo Bassin d'Arcachon in France.
Since some schools are closing for these two days I hardly think they would consider several hours on a coach, followed by several hours largely in the open, followed by several hours on a coach a sensible idea in record temperatures. (I speak as someone whose brother used to plan exactly such visits to Chester in the past)
Sometimes stuff just happens and you just have to accept it. Force majeure or Act of God.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
There are 29 places in the U.K. which have broken the previous heat record by several degrees and this is the first time there have been multiple temps recorded over 40. It’s clear from the evidence vs nostalgia that these are abnormal events and people will go to a place another day of it closes or post covid there wouldn’t be anyone in any zoo.
!976 was a record heatwave for the time, a time when cars had no A/C (neither did shops or cinemas etc) and the vinyl seats used to burn the back of your legs. Many people in the 70's wore heavy uniforms as part of their job for example postmen wore long trousers and tunic style jackets, (not shorts) as did bus conductors, traffic wardens, ambulance drivers and pretty much anyone in those kind of jobs.
The deaths in France are unfortunate but that is France not here, yet, thankfully.
Unfortunately I don't think these are abnormal events, I think we'll see this more often (perhaps again this year?) It's the way our climate is going.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Careful now - when Twycross repeated the name 'Bongo' used by a Danish soft-toy manufacturer for a range of their toys, earlier this year; there was a social media back-lash accusing them of racism and they had to take down the sales material.Im assuming this is a mis-type, or are Chester now utilising Colchester’s playbook for exhibit names?
Personally I’m all for a game of Bongo Bingo!
Yes, presumably cancelling a trip at the last moment is a decision for the group organisers, unless of course the venue cancels on you.
Did any other mainstream zoo follow Chester, other than Yorkshire as discussed above?
Others must have had higher temperatures both forecast and actual, than the north west.