Sure! The shortest version is: humans are endothermic, meaning we make our own body heat. We have to stay in a Goldilocks zone between too hot and too cold. If we're too hot, we sweat, our swear evaporates and it cools us off.
With me so far?
@abbie415_abbie
@jzellis Josh, would you consider a thread on wet bulb temperatures? What is that, how hot does it get, how does it cause deaths, etc.
But evaporation slows down the more ambient moisture is suspended in the air, which is what we call "humidity". The more humid the air, the slower liquids evaporate in that air; if it's too humid, they won't evaporate really at all from a practical standpoint.
If it's warm and you sweat and your sweat doesn't evaporate, you will rapidly experience heart arrhythmia, brain dysfunction and soon afterwards you will find out whether all the rumors about an afterlife are true.
Congratulations! You have crossed the wet bulb threshold.
For our purposes, the wet bulb threshold is when it's hot enough to make you sweat but too humid for that sweat to evaporate and maintain your core temperature. The more humid the air, the lower the temperature needed to cross the threshold.
(I'm aware that this is a drastic simplification of the physics, but for practical purposes it'll do.)
If it's reached wet bulb threshold where you are, the only way to not die is to externally lower your core temperature, which for all practical purposes means air conditioning.
Fans don't help and neither do evaporative (or "swamp") coolers because both rely on evaporation. You need to artificially cool your body or the air enough to maintain thermal homeostasis. Or stay submerged in a cold bath until the temperature goes down.
There is no toughing it out, no building up resistance to it. Young, old, fit, unfit, it will kill you. The first person I ever met who survived heat stroke was 12 when it happened. He was a suburban kid playing softball too long in the humid Texas heat. It fried his brain.
The higher the humidity the lower the wet bulb threshold, which is why people are dying in super humid Delhi at 35°C/95°F but can walk around much longer in 50°C/125°F in Death Valley, which is drier than Ben Shapiro's wife at a Magic: The Gathering tournament.
It's going to become a very serious problem in Europe soon, where summers are starting to cross the threshold. Why? Because architecture in Europe, especially Western Europe and the British Isles, was not designed to disperse heat. It was designed to retain it.
Wet bulb threshold is what's killing people in these heat waves in India and Mexico right now. It's dangerous because the danger isn't immediately obvious the way it is when you're wandering around in the snow in a t-shirt and booty shorts.
It creeps up on you.
Houses in warmer climes are designed to allow airflow through the house from the shaded side to the sunnier side. British houses trap heat, so when it gets hot, it's so much worse. 27°C/80°F in a midterrace house here feels like 41°C/105°F in a Texas shotgun shack.
Also, European houses simply weren't designed for central HVAC; almost no one has it here, even window ones like Americans often have. And if everyone got one, it would cause an ecological apocalypse, because HVAC is the most inefficient, energy chomping thing humans do.
Also, AC units are basically reverse heat pumps: if everyone in Britain suddenly had one, the ambient temperature of the island would go up probably by a couple of degrees Celsius. This, of course, would make the AC units run harder... and so you get a feedback loop.
If *India* adopted AC en masse, it would use so much power and create so much heat that it would basically cause an apocalypse.
But without it, unless they migrate permanently or seasonally, millions will be miserable half the year and hundreds of thousands will die every year.
Oh, and of course crossing the wet bulb threshold means animals and plants can't keep themselves cool either. Hence these poor monkeys falling out of trees in Mexico right now. It's already affecting agriculture in hot humid areas.
We're in serious trouble from this.
So that's what we mean when we talk about "wet bulb temperatures" as a consequence of climate collapse.
Which, as I've said, many of us have been doing for years and years now.
Pity the rest of you didn't listen or do anything about it.
Before you annoy me by trying to challenge me to a debate, you should know I don't give a single fuck if you believe or agree with me whatsoever, and also I'll tap the sign again:
Hey, any more of you windowlicking waterhead motherfuckers feel like mouthing off like the brain rotted fuckwits you truly are? Anybody? Bueller, Bueller?
Sure! The shortest version is: humans are endothermic, meaning we make our own body heat. We have to stay in a Goldilocks zone between too hot and too cold. If we're too hot, we sweat, our swear evaporates and it cools us off.
With me so far?But evaporation slows down the more ambient moisture is suspended in the air, which is what we call "humidity". The more humid the air, the slower liquids evaporate in that air; if it's too humid, they won't evaporate really at all from a practical standpoint.If it's warm and you sweat and your sweat doesn't evaporate, you will rapidly experience heart arrhythmia, brain dysfunction and soon afterwards you will find out whether all the rumors about an afterlife are true.
Congratulations! You have crossed the wet bulb threshold.For our purposes, the wet bulb threshold is when it's hot enough to make you sweat but too humid for that sweat to evaporate and maintain your core temperature. The more humid the air, the lower the temperature needed to cross the threshold.(I'm aware that this is a drastic simplification of the physics, but for practical purposes it'll do.)
If it's reached wet bulb threshold where you are, the only way to not die is to externally lower your core temperature, which for all practical purposes means air conditioning.Fans don't help and neither do evaporative (or "swamp") coolers because both rely on evaporation. You need to artificially cool your body or the air enough to maintain thermal homeostasis. Or stay submerged in a cold bath until the temperature goes down.There is no toughing it out, no building up resistance to it. Young, old, fit, unfit, it will kill you. The first person I ever met who survived heat stroke was 12 when it happened. He was a suburban kid playing softball too long in the humid Texas heat. It fried his brain.The higher the humidity the lower the wet bulb threshold, which is why people are dying in super humid Delhi at 35°C/95°F but can walk around much longer in 50°C/125°F in Death Valley, which is drier than Ben Shapiro's wife at a Magic: The Gathering tournament.It's going to become a very serious problem in Europe soon, where summers are starting to cross the threshold. Why? Because architecture in Europe, especially Western Europe and the British Isles, was not designed to disperse heat. It was designed to retain it.Wet bulb threshold is what's killing people in these heat waves in India and Mexico right now. It's dangerous because the danger isn't immediately obvious the way it is when you're wandering around in the snow in a t-shirt and booty shorts.
It creeps up on you.Houses in warmer climes are designed to allow airflow through the house from the shaded side to the sunnier side. British houses trap heat, so when it gets hot, it's so much worse. 27°C/80°F in a midterrace house here feels like 41°C/105°F in a Texas shotgun shack.Also, European houses simply weren't designed for central HVAC; almost no one has it here, even window ones like Americans often have. And if everyone got one, it would cause an ecological apocalypse, because HVAC is the most inefficient, energy chomping thing humans do.Also, AC units are basically reverse heat pumps: if everyone in Britain suddenly had one, the ambient temperature of the island would go up probably by a couple of degrees Celsius. This, of course, would make the AC units run harder... and so you get a feedback loop.If *India* adopted AC en masse, it would use so much power and create so much heat that it would basically cause an apocalypse.
But without it, unless they migrate permanently or seasonally, millions will be miserable half the year and hundreds of thousands will die every year.Oh, and of course crossing the wet bulb threshold means animals and plants can't keep themselves cool either. Hence these poor monkeys falling out of trees in Mexico right now. It's already affecting agriculture in hot humid areas.
We're in serious trouble from this.So that's what we mean when we talk about "wet bulb temperatures" as a consequence of climate collapse.
Which, as I've said, many of us have been doing for years and years now.
Pity the rest of you didn't listen or do anything about it.Before you annoy me by trying to challenge me to a debate, you should know I don't give a single fuck if you believe or agree with me whatsoever, and also I'll tap the sign again:Hey, any more of you windowlicking waterhead motherfuckers feel like mouthing off like the brain rotted fuckwits you truly are? Anybody? Bueller, Bueller?
yes
Sure! The shortest version is: humans are endothermic, meaning we make our own body heat. We have to stay in a Goldilocks zone between too hot and too cold. If we're too hot, we sweat, our swear evaporates and it cools us off.
With me so far? ... But evaporation slows down the more ambient moisture is suspended in the air, which is what we call "humidity". The more humid the air, the slower liquids evaporate in that air; if it's too humid, they won't evaporate really at all from a practical standpoint. ... If it's warm and you sweat and your sweat doesn't evaporate, you will rapidly experience heart arrhythmia, brain dysfunction and soon afterwards you will find out whether all the rumors about an afterlife are true.
Congratulations! You have crossed the wet bulb threshold. ... For our purposes, the wet bulb threshold is when it's hot enough to make you sweat but too humid for that sweat to evaporate and maintain your core temperature. The more humid the air, the lower the temperature needed to cross the threshold. ... (I'm aware that this is a drastic simplification of the physics, but for practical purposes it'll do.)
If it's reached wet bulb threshold where you are, the only way to not die is to externally lower your core temperature, which for all practical purposes means air conditioning. ... Fans don't help and neither do evaporative (or "swamp") coolers because both rely on evaporation. You need to artificially cool your body or the air enough to maintain thermal homeostasis. Or stay submerged in a cold bath until the temperature goes down. ... There is no toughing it out, no building up resistance to it. Young, old, fit, unfit, it will kill you. The first person I ever met who survived heat stroke was 12 when it happened. He was a suburban kid playing softball too long in the humid Texas heat. It fried his brain. ... The higher the humidity the lower the wet bulb threshold, which is why people are dying in super humid Delhi at 35°C/95°F but can walk around much longer in 50°C/125°F in Death Valley, which is drier than Ben Shapiro's wife at a Magic: The Gathering tournament. ... It's going to become a very serious problem in Europe soon, where summers are starting to cross the threshold. Why? Because architecture in Europe, especially Western Europe and the British Isles, was not designed to disperse heat. It was designed to retain it. ... Wet bulb threshold is what's killing people in these heat waves in India and Mexico right now. It's dangerous because the danger isn't immediately obvious the way it is when you're wandering around in the snow in a t-shirt and booty shorts.
It creeps up on you. ... Houses in warmer climes are designed to allow airflow through the house from the shaded side to the sunnier side. British houses trap heat, so when it gets hot, it's so much worse. 27°C/80°F in a midterrace house here feels like 41°C/105°F in a Texas shotgun shack. ... Also, European houses simply weren't designed for central HVAC; almost no one has it here, even window ones like Americans often have. And if everyone got one, it would cause an ecological apocalypse, because HVAC is the most inefficient, energy chomping thing humans do. ... Also, AC units are basically reverse heat pumps: if everyone in Britain suddenly had one, the ambient temperature of the island would go up probably by a couple of degrees Celsius. This, of course, would make the AC units run harder... and so you get a feedback loop. ... If *India* adopted AC en masse, it would use so much power and create so much heat that it would basically cause an apocalypse.
But without it, unless they migrate permanently or seasonally, millions will be miserable half the year and hundreds of thousands will die every year. ... Oh, and of course crossing the wet bulb threshold means animals and plants can't keep themselves cool either. Hence these poor monkeys falling out of trees in Mexico right now. It's already affecting agriculture in hot humid areas.
We're in serious trouble from this. ... So that's what we mean when we talk about "wet bulb temperatures" as a consequence of climate collapse.
Which, as I've said, many of us have been doing for years and years now.
Pity the rest of you didn't listen or do anything about it. ... Before you annoy me by trying to challenge me to a debate, you should know I don't give a single fuck if you believe or agree with me whatsoever, and also I'll tap the sign again: ... Hey, any more of you windowlicking waterhead motherfuckers feel like mouthing off like the brain rotted fuckwits you truly are? Anybody? Bueller, Bueller?
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