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Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

nytimes.com

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Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#41

Post by nickjj »

bspn wrote: post #9
hpoe wrote: post #4

So I get that the infrastructure isn't as well in place to deal with things like this but where I live 100+ isn't that absurd, and that's nothing to say for places like Arizonia which is two blocks away from the sun and 90 is considered cool, with 100+ being a common occurrence. So what makes this particularly bad?

The humidity amplifies the effects of the heat. I remember the first time I travelled to Arizona and was expecting to suffer when I saw the forecast temperatures were 100+, but the dry heat was - I hesitate to say comfortable - but very different from a 90 degree day on the East Coast with high humidity. An extended period of extreme heat + humidity can be brutal on the body, particularly those already vulnerable or…

Yeah humidity is no joke.

I'm in NY and when it's ~90f degrees out with high humidity, it's an unescapable heat unless you have an A/C.

I'm in ok shape I guess. I walk 3-5 miles a day in all types of weather ranging from about 10f to 100f degrees but when high temps hit with high humidity my skin immediately glazes over and I know to take it easy. My arms will be dripping wet in less than a minute just standing outside doing nothing with a ~60 BPM heart rate.

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#42

Post by erobbins »

bspn wrote: post #9
hpoe wrote: post #4

So I get that the infrastructure isn't as well in place to deal with things like this but where I live 100+ isn't that absurd, and that's nothing to say for places like Arizonia which is two blocks away from the sun and 90 is considered cool, with 100+ being a common occurrence. So what makes this particularly bad?

The humidity amplifies the effects of the heat. I remember the first time I travelled to Arizona and was expecting to suffer when I saw the forecast temperatures were 100+, but the dry heat was - I hesitate to say comfortable - but very different from a 90 degree day on the East Coast with high humidity. An extended period of extreme heat + humidity can be brutal on the body, particularly those already vulnerable or…

It's deceptively comfortable :) You can very quickly find yourself dehydrated and in a bad state.

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#43

Post by taneq »

jointpdf wrote: post #22
taneq wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people (usually already frail) This always makes these sort of dire predictions sound exaggerated to me. There’s always a population of (usually older) people who are nearing the end and we seem irrationally unwilling to accept “old age” as a cause of death. Any slight disturbance is then blamed and we get dramatic headlines about “hundreds die in 35C heatwave.”

Infants and toddlers are also frail, and regularly die from heatstroke. The probability of this happening increases as temperatures rise.

True, although not to the same degree as seniors by far. I'm struggling to find much data, but https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1950160/ claims +55% male infant mortality rate in Paris and +12% in the rest of the country (females were unaffected, which I guess ties in with male infants generally being more fragile than females) during the 2003 heat wave in France. They don't give baseline rates, though, so it's hard to tell what this means in real numbers.

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#44

Post by slenk »

bradknowles wrote: post #35
Retric wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heat index is by far more useful than temperature when discussing this. At 90f at 90% humidity is more dangerous and feels hotter than 102 at 50% humidity. 100f at 65% humidity feels like 136f and higher humidity quickly turns deadly. Or as the article puts it, extreme heat killed 108 people last year.

That's nothing. A few years ago, in France, over 50,000 people died due to heat stroke and other extreme heat factors. In the US, many places have this thing called "air conditioning". In France, and much of continental Europe, that's pretty rare. Heck, in many of the poorer places over there, they don't even have fans.

It's more like 50k throughout Europe, but that is still awful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#45

Post by danso »

techntoke wrote: post #29
danso wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it costs money to pay the professionals who report and write the articles?

I thought that they got most of that money from the companies and influencers paying them to write stories and passing it as news?

Such as?

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#46

Post by staticautomatic »

realbarack wrote: post #30
staticautomatic wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NY Times doesn't exactly have a consistent record of skilled, relatively objective reporting.

Are there specific instances you have in mind? I actually think they do pretty good job on the whole.

Sure. Two of the most egregious examples are the early coverage of the Vietnam war and basically all of the coverage of the U.S. meddling in Latin American politics. There's also its long track record of uncritical coverage of the so-called "war on terror", especially during Obama's tenure. When not busy toeing the military-industrial line, the Times is happy to report that there's still a genuine debate about whether climate change is real [1] and that people who have flatly been accused of rape are simply having "#metoo problems."

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anytimes.com+"debate+o...

Re: Heat Wave to Hit Two-Thirds of the U.S. Here’s What to Expect

#47

Post by beezle »

beezle wrote: post #28

Slow news day? Not like this is the first heat wave to ever hit more than a couple states. Drink lots of water, move slow, go to work early and leave late (its cooler and less people to get edgy with!)

No clue why the angry downvotes - from the subheadline of the story: "Dangerously hot temperatures are predicted from Oklahoma to New England. Here’s the forecast, with some tips on staying safe." I add to their list of things that can help, get downvoted, but people complaining about blocked incognito mode, all ok?
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