My own experience tells me that when the temperature reaches a certain point, it really doesn't matter what the heat index is... it's just plain old, sweaty, sticky, nasty HOT! However, some weather gurus decided to make a name for themselves and produce a chart- like we need another one of those- to tell us, well, how hot we are, or, more importantly, how hot we feel.

Heat index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, as I grow older, I seem to recall summers being less hot than they are these days, although we always had days of 100+ degrees. When I was a teenager in the panhandle of Florida, I worked in the fields in the summer time to make money. I loaded watermelons in temperatures reaching upper 90's on a regular basis. We drank lots of water, rested in the shade when we could, but those days were ome of the best of my youth. Now, I try to limit my outdoor activity when the temperature reaches the highs of the last few days. I have to go outside and wash my truck today, but I'll be in the shade for most of the time. I guess cleaning the garage can wait until it cools off sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Here in Virginia it is unusually hot. We are right at 100 degrees today, with a 'heat index' of somthing like 110. Well, I say the number is more arbitrary than factual. Once it gets over a hundred, who cares???

 

More media sensationalism, and rationale for the crybabies in this soft country.

 

The heat is just the same as it was when you were a kid, Stu.........Its just us thats changed, we're gettin old!

Heat index?.........just another thing for the weather girl on the Weather channel to spout off about and look professional.

 

Kind of like our wind chill factor in the winter. After -20; who cares!! Its bloody cold.

 

The heat index slogan may very well be geek speak for the weather person but this mailman has had his a$$ kicked hard this week.

Today alone I consumed two 20oz gatorades, 2 bottles of water that customers gave me and an entire 2 gallons of ice water that I took myself plus a diet pepsi with my lunch. This is what I've been drinking all week.

My poor daughter has been playing in a college showcase softball tournament in Virginia Beach since Thursday. Poor thing is coming home at night all wrung out like a dish rag.

 

It’s all BS, for me there is no such thing as Heat Index nor Chill Factor. I spent the winter in Arizona and summer in western Washington. You see problem is no problem.

 

You guys don't think humidity is a factor in how dangerous the heat is?

Sure...'heat-is-heat'......But I think low humidity allows the body's 'sweat' mechanism to whisk away internal heat more efficiently.......With high humidity, it just sits there and cooks.....

But I could be wrong. I'm not a meteorologist.....

 

I feel for you, Tim. At least you're staying hydrated. But would you be sweating any less if the weather girl told you that the heat index was only 90? It is definitely hot down here this week.

 

I'll go along with that, Steve. The damper the air is the better it conducts heat. An analogy would be turn your oven up to 400°. Now stick your arm in. It's hot in there but your arm is not getting burned. (At least not unlesss you fall asleep reading this and leave your arm in the oven.) Now bring a pan of water to a boil on the stove. It's just 212° but I advise you not to stick even a finger in it because you're going to get a nice second degree burn. Though the oven is twice as hot, the dry air doesn't conduct the heat to your body as well as the the water in the pan does.

 

They should probably call it the discomfort index. Accuweather.com uses 'feels like' , which seems more descriptive.

As for danger, from what I understand, dry heat is actually more dangerous. You may not notice how hot it really is, and you can get dehydrated, etc.

Wind chill on the other hand is probably a good number. Exposed body parts will lose heat as if the temp was that cold ( covered parts not as much). This is good to know if you have kids waiting for the bus, etc.

 

LOL! The weather girl is just a pretty thing to attract us old farts. I walk 12 miles per day carrying mail. I sweat in the winter just not as much but enough to still need gatorade and water. When it's less humid I sweat less. I sweat more when it's 85 and very humid than I do when it's 93 and fairly dry. My body craves fluid replenishment more when the humidity levels are high.

So anyway, I feel compelled to put this out there so please bare with me or simply ignore it.

If you feel overheated, the three main places to cool first is the back of your neck, your wrists and your inner thighs.

Wear a well ventilated hat, use sun block. Drink, drink, drink. Drink till you feel like you can't drink anymore. You will lose more than you take in.

20%-25% of your fluid intake should be an electrolyte based fluid such as gatorage, powerade, pedialyte, etc. You also have to be mindful of too much salt intake. Salt will cause you to retain water, not good when you NEED to sweat.

Lastly, if your urine is NOT clear, then you are not fully hydrated and or, your not consuming the correct liquids. Alcohol will dehydrate you faster than anything.

Public safety announcement off.

 

weatherman said this summer is among the top 10 hottest summers ever recorded, and last summer was one of the coolest on record. last summer our above ground pool hardly reached 80 degrees, this summer it stays around 90. I use plenty of sun screen and keep the cooler full of ice water. I keep a couple of 2 gal buckets full of fresh water for the pets. we'll get thru the summer ok, it's winter that we dont like.

 

I may be mistaken, but the way I see it, heat is heat. But your body's ability to deal with that heat has a great deal to do with the humidity of the air around you. In 90 degrees heat with a low relative humidity, (say 35%) you sweat just as much as you would in 90 degree heat with a high relative humidity (say 85%).
But, you feel much more uncomfortable in the high humidity because your body is not benefiting from the cooling effect of the perspiration evaporating from your body since said evaporation is hampered by the saturated nature of the air. The more moisture already in the air, the less room for your moisture.
I believe that you probably sweat just as much in either scenario (and are thus equally subject to dehydration) but you really do not notice it as much at lower relative humidity levels.
Don't any of you remember swimming on a hot, but clear (non-muggy) day?
You'd get out of the pool and (especially if there was a breeze blowing) get really cold to the point it felt warmer to be back in the water! That was because the water was evaporating off of you so fast (even in bright sunshine and 85+ degree air temperatures) that you felt really chilled until it had all evaporated.
Well, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

 

^^^^ Exactly!

But I don't need some bimbo to tell me how uncomfortable I'm going to be.

 

Kal, the problem with that idea is that in higher humidity, your body does not cool--evaporation is very slow, causing it to try to cool itself more by sweating more. But, when the humidity is low, then the evaporative cooling that happens with sweat actually works to cool the body. I do plenty of work outside in the summer, and I definitely have to drink far more fluids on the most humid days. I'll take 90 and dry over 80 and humid any day. By the time the heat index is reaching 105-110, I know I will probably have to shorten my day a bit, and if it goes much over that, I may even find something else to do for the day.

Jason