Since the weekly topic is about keeping cool in summer this week, I’d like to share some vocabulary for talking about summer heat and staying cool in English.

Describing heat

When the weather gets warmer / hotter, it warms / heatsup.“

Ex. It’s supposed to really heat up next week!”

Intense heat can be described as scorching or searing. 

Ex. “We’re in for another scorching (hot) day tomorrow.” 

Cooking words, such as boiling and baking can also be used to describe very hot temperatures. You can even say “It’s like an oven in this room.”

When heat is combined with humidity, you can use words like muggy and sweltering to describe such conditions.

If hot and humid weather lasts for a long period of time (at least three consecutive days), it is called a heat wave. 

Ex. “I hope this heat wave ends soon!”

The effects of heat

When it’s very hot, you sweat to cool down. Sweat can be used as both a noun and a verb. If you sweat a lot, it drips / runs / pours down your body and you become drenched / soaked (in sweat). 

Ex. “My shirt was completely drenched in sweat after just five minutes outside” 

Ex. “By the time I got to the bus stop, sweatwaspouring down my face.” 

Some people even use the phrase “I’m sweating like a pig / dog!”  

If you are exposed to extremely hot temperatures, you may suffer heatstroke (a condition when your body overheats) and even pass out (become unconscious), especially if you’re dehydrated (lacking sufficient water).

Heat affects infrastructure as well. It can warp metal, like railroad tracks, and melt materials that turn into liquid at a high temperature (people may also claim to be melting in extreme heat, a common exaggeration). Heat can also bake grass, trees, and plants (turn them brown and wilted), and it evaporates water.

Staying cool

So, what can we do to keep cool when it’s hot? 

Most people probably turn on their air conditioning / air conditioner / AC to cool down their homes. Confusingly, some people say that they turn up their AC (increase the power), while others say that they turn down their AC (decrease the temperature) - both phrasal verbs can mean the same thing!

If you don’t have (or don’t want to use) air conditioning, you might open some windows and try to get a cross breeze blowing through your home or turn on a fan to circulate the air (move it around). 

Ex. I live in a corner apartment, so when I open the windows, I get a nice cross breeze.

Sometimes we want to cool down quickly, though, and in that case it might be a good idea to take an ice cold shower or use an ice pack. If you’re lucky enough to live near water or a pool, you can also take a dip (go for a short swim) to cool down.

Ex. Let’s take a dip in the river to cool down!

Well, that’s probably a good place to wrap this one up for now. I hope that some of this vocabulary will help you to talk about summer heat and staying cool in English in the future!