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hatrack

(59,387 posts)
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 08:37 AM Jun 2014

Wet-Bulb Forecast For SE, South; "It Will Be Functionally Impossible To Be Outside" Days @ A Time

EDIT

The highest heat-plus-humidity reading in the United States was in 1995 in Appleton, Wisconsin, when the outside temperature was 101F. While the Upper Midwest is not known for tropical conditions, climate research shows that it will experience more warming than lower latitudes as well as more humidity.

As a result, the deadliest heat-and-humidity combinations are expected to center around that region, with threads reaching to the Eastern Seaboard and islands of dangerous conditions along the northwest Pacific coast. If climate change continues on its current trajectory, the report concluded, Midwesterners could see deadly heat-and-humidity pairings (which meteorologists call "wet-bulb temperature&quot two days every year by later this century.

"It will be functionally impossible to be outside, including for things like construction work and farming, as well as recreation," said climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. Even without killer humidity, heat waves are expected to take a larger and larger toll.

The Southeast is expected to be hit with an additional 17 to 52 extremely hot days per year by mid-century and an additional 48 to 130 days by 2100. That could prove deadly for thousands: "Risky Business" projects an additional 15 to 21 deaths per 100,000 people every year from the heat, or 11,000 to 36,000 additional deaths at current population levels.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/heat-humidity-areas-unsuited-outdoor-activity-041506260.html

31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Wet-Bulb Forecast For SE, South; "It Will Be Functionally Impossible To Be Outside" Days @ A Time (Original Post) hatrack Jun 2014 OP
Don't Mess With Mother Nature cantbeserious Jun 2014 #1
I used to live in Bloomington Il, and then moved to Durham NC and then here in Florida. djean111 Jun 2014 #2
I thought the THI record was 2 years ago in Moorhead, MN rurallib Jun 2014 #5
That's what I thought too NickB79 Jun 2014 #19
It never ceases to amaze me at hot god-awful hot rurallib Jun 2014 #23
Drink more water Gman Jun 2014 #3
Exactly…. stay hydrated…. usafvet65 Jun 2014 #15
At wet-bulb temps that high, hydration doesn't matter NickB79 Jun 2014 #20
Is it okay for me to think smug and unkind thoughts SheilaT Jun 2014 #4
your conscience provided that question, and also the answer carolinayellowdog Jun 2014 #9
There are many of me. SheilaT Jun 2014 #22
schadenfreude is the epitome of evil, perhaps why it is so seductive carolinayellowdog Jun 2014 #24
I was intending it as a laugh at myself. SheilaT Jun 2014 #25
fair enough, no offense taken carolinayellowdog Jun 2014 #27
Hell it's already that way in Savannah n2doc Jun 2014 #6
Gnats or No-See-Ums? Lochloosa Jun 2014 #7
Oh I see em n2doc Jun 2014 #8
No-See-Ums? packman Jun 2014 #10
the name no-see-ums LittleGirl Jun 2014 #13
If you grew up on the coast in the south you know what no-see-ums are. Lochloosa Jun 2014 #16
wow, I didn't realize all that LittleGirl Jun 2014 #18
In Puerto Rico, they call them "las plagas". Ugh. NickB79 Jun 2014 #21
"Functionally Impossible to Be Outside" sounds a bit extreme. BlueEye Jun 2014 #11
Not really - if it's so hot and humid that your sweat can't evaporate and cool you . . . hatrack Jun 2014 #12
Mumbai, India, has a summer wet-bulb temperature of "only" 83F NickB79 Jun 2014 #26
Pretty typical to have multiple wet-bulb days here in Louisville. blackspade Jun 2014 #14
I've been watching Quangzhou pscot Jun 2014 #17
Which means... Spider Jerusalem Jun 2014 #28
Those positive feedback loops will get you every time. nt GliderGuider Jun 2014 #29
It's OK ... Nihil Jun 2014 #30
More permanent link than Yahoo eridani Jun 2014 #31
 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
2. I used to live in Bloomington Il, and then moved to Durham NC and then here in Florida.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 08:53 AM
Jun 2014

(Born in Philly).
All moves job related.
It is hotter and more humid in Bloomington and Durham and Philadelphia, in the summer, than it is here in Florida.

rurallib

(62,328 posts)
5. I thought the THI record was 2 years ago in Moorhead, MN
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 09:45 AM
Jun 2014

My kids live in MN so i often look to see what kind of weather they are having.
The temperature was @106 with a THI of 136.

Just can't imagine how hot that would feel.

I spent many a summer in North Carolina and it was often miserable.

NickB79

(19,063 posts)
19. That's what I thought too
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:14 PM
Jun 2014

It was a BIG deal here in Minnesota, because all the local newscasters liked to say we were hotter than Death Valley or Saudi Arabia by that metric.

And Midwesterners LOOOOVE to brag about how they live in states that go from finger-freezing cold to asphalt-melting heat every year

rurallib

(62,328 posts)
23. It never ceases to amaze me at hot god-awful hot
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 05:00 PM
Jun 2014

it can get in those flat plains of Nebraska, SD, ND and Minnesota.
My dad used to take us to a lake north and west of the Cities and holy smoke some of those vacations we just sweltered.

usafvet65

(46 posts)
15. Exactly…. stay hydrated….
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:24 AM
Jun 2014

assuming the the extraction industries haven't polluted your water supply. Mining, oil and gas extraction companies are polluting ground water aquifers at alarming rates.

State after states are passing laws to prevent citizen from even knowing what chemicals are present in fracking fluids.

As water tables become polluted the competition for access to fresh drinkable water will become yet another limit resource that the 'extraction' industries will try and privatize for the almighty $$$$.

NickB79

(19,063 posts)
20. At wet-bulb temps that high, hydration doesn't matter
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:15 PM
Jun 2014

It's so hot and humid, your body LITERALLY can't sweat enough to cool you off, because the high humidity means the sweat isn't evaporating off your body to carry away excess body heat.

You could drink all the water you could carry in a situation like that described in the OP and still drop dead of heat stroke.

We have truly entered a new climate age that our species has never lived in before.

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
4. Is it okay for me to think smug and unkind thoughts
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 09:26 AM
Jun 2014

about all those who moved to such places because they thought that anyplace without snow was paradise?

carolinayellowdog

(3,247 posts)
9. your conscience provided that question, and also the answer
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 10:49 AM
Jun 2014

some part of you doesn't think it's OK or it wouldn't ask the smug unkind side of SheilaT that question.

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
22. There are many of me.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:55 PM
Jun 2014

A smug SheilaT, an unkind SheilaT, a mean SheilaT, a generous SheilaT, a happy SheilaT. Lots and lots of me. No wonder I have to ask such questions.

carolinayellowdog

(3,247 posts)
24. schadenfreude is the epitome of evil, perhaps why it is so seductive
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 06:06 PM
Jun 2014

Not sure how to take your ROFL which I take to be the epitome of evil in this little DU universe. Seems to be the signature of the worst of the worst here, but won't jump to conclusions about you.

However, the positive side of CYD is here to tell the positive side of SheilaT-- taking pleasure in the suffering of others, real or imagined, is EVIL EVIL EVIL.

Don't mock me, think about it.

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
25. I was intending it as a laugh at myself.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 07:12 PM
Jun 2014

I was being silly, and didn't make it very clear.

Back to my original point. I don't want to take pleasure in the suffering of others, but I have long found those who are smug about living where they have no winter to be highly annoying. I find it only fair that they suffer from climate also.

carolinayellowdog

(3,247 posts)
27. fair enough, no offense taken
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 06:22 PM
Jun 2014

but having suffered TWO FEET OF SNOW IN SOUTHERN VIRGINIA this year, I can assure you that climate change fucks everyone up every possible way! Horribly hot all week here.

 

packman

(16,296 posts)
10. No-See-Ums?
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:08 AM
Jun 2014

Did you get that from a stay in the Bahamas? When I went there a few year back that is what the natives called them, which I thought was a delicious use of the language.

Lochloosa

(16,002 posts)
16. If you grew up on the coast in the south you know what no-see-ums are.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:28 PM
Jun 2014

Ceratopogonidae, or biting midges (including what are called, in the United States and Canada, no-see-ums, midgies, sand flies, punkies, and others), are a family of small flies (1–4 mm long) in the order Diptera. They are closely related to the Chironomidae, Simuliidae (or black flies), and Thaumaleidae.

Many of the hematophagic (blood-eating) species are pests in beach or mountain habitats. Some other species are important pollinators of tropical crops such as cacao. The blood-sucking species may be vectors of disease-causing viruses, protozoa, or filarial worms. The bite of midges in the genus Culicoides causes an allergic response in equines known as sweet itch. In humans, their bites can cause intensely itchy, red welts that can persist for more than a week. The discomfort arises from a localized allergic reaction to the proteins in their saliva, which can be somewhat alleviated by topical antihistamines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopogonidae

LittleGirl

(8,247 posts)
18. wow, I didn't realize all that
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:42 PM
Jun 2014

I first heard about them from my cousins that live on Lookout Mountain of Northern Alabama. Along with ticks in the woods, I hated to go outside after dinner there.

NickB79

(19,063 posts)
21. In Puerto Rico, they call them "las plagas". Ugh.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:17 PM
Jun 2014

They didn't like the taste of me, but they LOVED my wife's legs. Lots of red dots everywhere by the end of the week.

BlueEye

(449 posts)
11. "Functionally Impossible to Be Outside" sounds a bit extreme.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:12 AM
Jun 2014

I think we can adapt. I have a friend who grew up in Mumbai, India. On the days when I would remark that the humidity was "unbearable", he would just laugh at me.

hatrack

(59,387 posts)
12. Not really - if it's so hot and humid that your sweat can't evaporate and cool you . . .
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:14 AM
Jun 2014

And you have no means of relieving that situation (i.e. a bucket of cold water over the head), you die. It's just a question of how long it takes.

NickB79

(19,063 posts)
26. Mumbai, India, has a summer wet-bulb temperature of "only" 83F
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 09:08 PM
Jun 2014

Whereas the lethal limit is generally accepted as 95F wet-bulb.

Research has projected that large portions of the planet will exceed this in the next 100-200 years: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100504HuberLimits.html

While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change central estimates of business-as-usual warming by 2100 are seven degrees Fahrenheit, eventual warming of 25 degrees is feasible, he said.

"We found that a warming of 12 degrees Fahrenheit would cause some areas of the world to surpass the wet-bulb temperature limit, and a 21-degree warming would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment," Huber said. "When it comes to evaluating the risk of carbon emissions, such worst-case scenarios need to be taken into account. It's the difference between a game of roulette and playing Russian roulette with a pistol. Sometimes the stakes are too high, even if there is only a small chance of losing."

Steven Sherwood, the professor at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia, who is the paper's lead author, said prolonged wet-bulb temperatures above 95 degrees would be intolerable after a matter of hours.

"The wet-bulb limit is basically the point at which one would overheat even if they were naked in the shade, soaking wet and standing in front of a large fan," Sherwood said. "Although we are very unlikely to reach such temperatures this century, they could happen in the next."


Without air conditioning or underground shelters, there is no way the human body can adapt to a climate this hot and humid at the same time.

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
14. Pretty typical to have multiple wet-bulb days here in Louisville.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 11:23 AM
Jun 2014

Several years ago there were 4 days in a row at least with 110+ heat indexes.
We kept on working. I think my crew was going through 10-15 gallons of icewater a day!

pscot

(21,023 posts)
17. I've been watching Quangzhou
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:03 PM
Jun 2014

The forecast for the rest of the week is 92 degrees and 80% for a heat index of 122. Add bad air and marinate.

 

Spider Jerusalem

(21,786 posts)
28. Which means...
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:23 PM
Jun 2014

more air conditioning, which means more electricity consumption, which means more coal and natural gas burning, which means more carbon dioxide and intensified global warming.

 

Nihil

(13,508 posts)
30. It's OK ...
Thu Jun 26, 2014, 06:22 AM
Jun 2014

... just adopt the GOP solution and pretend it isn't happening.

Freedumb! Merka! Terrists!


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