Climate change is making extreme weather events more commonplace, people’s daily lives may change in unexpected ways. Prime example: Parts of the US and UK are currently experiencing merciless heat waves, with highs in London exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday. A warning from Nintendo states that playing a Switch console in that weather can cause it to overheat.
“If you use the Nintendo Switch in a hot place, the temperature of the main unit may become high,” a July 11 tweet from Nintendo reads. The company recommends using the Nintendo Switch in areas between 40 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (5 to 35 degrees Celsius). “The main unit may become hot during charging or when the main unit is operating,” reads a support page linked to in the tweet, which can lead to “low-temperature burns… if your skin is in direct contact with a hot part for a long time.”
The warning on Nintendo’s Japanese website says the Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED are all vulnerable to overheating. The warning is only available on Nintendo’s Japanese website. Nintendo US and UK have been contacted but didn’t immediately respond.
The tweet was sent out in Japanese, coming amid Japan’s worst heat wave since 1875. It’s taken on new meaning in the past week with temperatures in the UK rising to sweltering levels. As wildfires spread in France and Spain, Britain is bracing for its hottest summer on record. The heat wave has already caused train delays and a brief airport closure in London.
In the US, 55 million people live in areas that are expected to reach dangerous levels of heat in the coming weeks and months, according to the New York Times’ heat index.
